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THE SUBSTANCE OF EVERY THING LITURGICAL IN 
BISHOP SPARROW, MR. L'ESTRANGE, DR. COMBER, DR. NICHOLS, 
AND ALL FORMER RITUALISTS, COMMENTATORS, AND 
OTHERS. UPON THE SAME SUBJECT. 



CHARLES WHEATLY, M.A. 

VIC*R OF BRENT AND FCRNEUX PELR IN HERTFORDSHIRE 



LONDON: 

BELL & DALDY, 6, YOEK STKEET, COVENT GAEDEX, 
AND 186, FLEET STEEET. 
1864. 



LONDON : PRINTED BT M"ILLI.',iI CLOWES AXD fcO>'S, STAMEOED fiflEEET 
AKD CHASING CROSS. 



THE PREFACE. 



In a former edition of this book, which was printed in folio, I was 
at a loss in what manner I was to address the reader ; that is, whe- 
ther I was to bespeak his candour as to an entire new book, or 
whether only the continuance of it as to a new edition of an old one. 
I called it indeed the third edition in the title-page ; though I think 
I had but little other reason for doing so, than my having twice 
published a treatise upon the same subject before. For scarce a 
fifth part of what I then offered to the world was printed from 
either of the former editions; nor had so much of them as I have 
mentioned been continued entire, had I foreseen how little I should 
have confined myself to the rest. But when it first went to the 
press, I had no other design than to have reprinted it exactly from 
the second edition ; except that I had yielded to the request of the 
booksellers," who, being encouraged by the quick sale of two large 
impressions, in a smaller, volume, were willing to run the hazard of 
one in a larger size. This was all the alteration I proposed: nor 
did I think of any other, till the introductory discourse, the whole 
first chapter, and great part of the second, were worked off from the 
press; which therefore, for the most part, stand just as they did 
before, and not in the method into which I should have thrown 
them, had I known from the beginning what alterations I should 
have made. However, the reader will have no reason to complain ; 
since though the form would have been different, the arguments 
notwithstanding must have been much the same : and they sure 
will appear to a better advantage by standing entire, and in the 
light they are set by the authors themselves, from whom I have 
borrowed them, than if they had been broke into comments and 
notes, and produced in parcels, as the rubrics would have required ; 
which was the method I afterwards thought fit to pursue.* For 

* I desire that what I have said may be principally understood of the introductory 
discourse (which is almost verbally transcribed from Dr. Bennet's Brief History of the 
joint Use of precomposed set Forms of Prayer) and of the three first sections of the se- 
cond chapter ; for the first of which I am partly obliged to bishop Beveridge's Discourse 
on The Necessity and Advantage of Public Prayer; for the second to Dr. Cave's Pri- 
mitive Christianity ; and for the third to Mr. Roberts's excellent Sermon at the Primary 
Visitation of the late bishop of Exeter at Oakhampton. The two following sections of 
that chapter are pretty much in the method I afterwards observed, and so for the most 
part is the whole first chapter ; for the first division of which (concerning the Tables 
and Rules) I must not forget to repeat the acknowledgments I have more than once 
made to the learned Dr. Brett. 

▲ 2 



iv 



THE PREFACE. 



when I observed at the close of the second chapter, (which is upon 
the general rubric concerning The Order for Morning and Evening 
Prayer,) that I had taken no notice in what part of the Church Di- 
vine Service should be performed, (the appointment of which was 
yet the principal design of the first part of that rubric,) I not only 
found it necessary to add a new section to supply that defect ; but 
taking the hint, to examine how I had managed the rubrics in ge- 
neral, I perceived that I had been equally deficient in most of 
them ; and that consequently, to make the work truly useful, the 
like additions would be necessary through the whole. 

The occasion of this defect in the two first editions was owing to 
a neglect of those parts of our offices in all who had writ upon the 
Liturgy before me : for as I never, till the third edition, attempted 
any further than to give the substance and sum of what others had 
treated of more at large ; it could not be expect ed, that the epitome, 
or abridgment, should give more light than the books from whence 
it was taken supplied. However, as I considered the price of my 
own book would then be very considerably advanced, I thought it 
but reasonable to make the purchaser what amends I was able, 
by putting it into his hands as complete as I could. 

To this end I applied myself, in the first place, to the comparing 
our Liturgy, as it stands at present, with the first Common Prayer 
Book of King Edward VI., and with all the reviews that have been 
taken of it since ; from whence, together with the history of com- 
piling it, and of the several alterations it has undergone from time 
to time, I easily foresaw the rubrics would be best illustrated and 
explained. Nor have I found myself disappointed in the advantage 
I proposed ; for I do not remember that I have met with a difficulty 
through the whole Common Prayer, but what I have been enabled, 
by this means, in some measure to remove. 

And whilst 1 was upon these searches, it came into my mind, from 
the extravagant prices which the Old Common Prayer Books have 
borne of late, that it would not be unacceptable to the curious 
reader, to note the differences between them : wherever therefore 
I met with any variations, I have also been diligent to transcribe 
them at large, and to give the reason of the several changes : 
another improvement which I thought would be looked upon to be 
so much the more useful, as it furnished me with occasions of in- 
quiring into several ancient usages of the Church, and of shewing 
how far we have advanced to, or gone back from, the primitive 
standard, since our first Reformation. 

These are the two principal alterations which I observed: and 
though these perhaps may seem but slight at first mentioning, yet 
I can assure the reader, that from my first laying the design, I found 
that, instead of what I had at first undertaken, which was only the 
supervising a few sheets as they were worked off, I had got an en- 
tire new work upon my hands, and that I was to prepare for, as 
well as to correct from, the press. New additions I perceived were 
necessary to be made almost in every page, and where the old mat- 
ter was continued, it was to be often transposed, and to be worked 



THE PREFACE. 



V 



up again in different parts of the book. So that neither of my 
former editions was, from the time above mentioned, of any other 
use to me in compiling of this, than any of the authors that lay open 
before me : except that what was scattered in different books, 
which treat some of them of one thing and some of another, I ge- 
nerally found ready collected in my own, which therefore for the 
most part saved me the trouble of new weaving the materials which 
others had supplied. Not that I took any advantage from hence to 
spare myself the pains of reading over again the several authors 
themselves; for I do not know that there was a single piece on the 
subject, how inconsiderable soever, but what I gave a fresh review, 
and with the utmost care, that not a hint should escape me, which I 
judged would be any ways worth observation. And yet I dare 
affirm that the whole that I borrowed from all who have writ pro- 
fessedly upon the Common Prayer, does not amount to near a fourth 
part of what the following sheets contain. Nor will it seem in- 
credible, that every thing that is pertinent to my own design, should 
be reduced into so narrow a compass as I have mentioned; when it 
is considered that though the authors I made use of were numerous, 
yet the matters they treat of are generally the same ; that some of 
them have printed the Liturgy itself, as well as their explanations 
and comments upon it ; that they are most of them but small ; and 
that in the two that are voluminous (Dr. Comber and Dr. Nichols) 
scarce an eighth part of either of them come within the limits I 
confined myself to. The bulk of the former consists in large Para- 
phrases and practical Discourses, which I wholly passed by : and if 
the latter has done nothing in a practical way, yet the repetition of 
his Paraphrases, where the same forms return in different offices, 
together with his enlarging upon subjects that a reader would never 
think to look for in a Comment upon the Common Prayer, have very 
much contributed to swell his work with materials that I judged 
might be spared, without any danger of its being thought a defect ; 
especially since the omission of them made room for the enlarging 
upon other points much more pertinent to the subject of the book ; 
and which indeed make the principal part of the whole, though 
most of them are touched upon but lightly, if at all, in any former 
direct Exposition of the Liturgy. To name all the particulars would 
be more ostentatious than useful ; and therefore I snail only observe 
in general, that wherever I knew any point I was to mention, 
handled more particularly by authors who have made it their 
principal view, I always had recourse to them, and took the 
liberty of borrowing whatever contributed to the perfecting my 
scheme. 

In such cases I have generally given notice in the margin to 
whom I have been beholden ; though there is one thing perhaps in 
which I have been deficient, and that is, in not using sometimes the 
ordinary marks of distinction, when I have taken the words as well 
as the thoughts of my author: for it was always my rule when I 
could not mend an expression, not to do it an injury by changing 
it : and yet as I was frequently forced to transpose the order of his 
sentences, and to blend and mix with them what my own thoughts 



VI 



THE PREFACE. 



supplied, it often came to pass, that when the paragraph was finish- 
ed, I questioned whether the author, from whom most of it was 
taken, would acknowledge it to he his own. 

And thus I have given the reader an account, as well of my 
first attempts on this subject, as of the further progress I made 
upon it when it came the third time to the press; which I have 
done, not so much for the sake of acquainting him with the old 
editions, as of informing him more distinctly what it is he may look 
for in the new ones. It will be a needless caution I suppose to 
add, that I shall stand to nothing that I have said before, any 
further than it agrees with the contents of the last : the particulars 
indeed are but few, as far as I can remember, where my notions 
are changed ; but where they are, it is but common justice to take 
my sentiments from what I deliver upon maturer judgment; and 
not to expect I should always vindicate an error or mistake, be- 
cause I once advanced it in a juvenile performance. I should 
have very ill bestowed the pains I took to review my original 
papers, (which was more a great deal than it cost me at first to 
collect and compile them ; and which took up as many years as it 
would have done months, had they been only reprinted as they 
were before,) if they did not come out with some improvements at 
last. Not that I am so vain as to think, they are at last without 
faults and imperfections ; I am sensible there are many ; I can 
only plead that none willingly escaped me, and that wherever any 
escaped unwillingly, nobody could have been more industrious to 
find them. For in order to this, I not only, during the tedious 
delay that I then created to the press, examined the sheets upon 
every occasion that called the matter of them fresh to my mind ; 
but also importuned the assistance and corrections of such learned 
friends as I knew were in no danger (except from too favourable 
an indulgence to the author) of overlooking the slightest mistakes. 

And this I take to be the proper place to explain myself in re- 
lation to one passage particularly which I know has been thought 
to need the greatest amendment, though I have let it stand with- 
out making any. And indeed an explanation of it is so much the 
more needful, as it is not only judged to be indefensible in itself, 
but also to be inconsistent with what I have said in another part 
of the book. The passage I mean is concerning the Absolution in 
the daily Morning and Evening Service, which I have asserted to 
be "an actual conveyance of pardon, at the very instant of pro- 
nouncing it, to all that come within the terms proposed."* And 
again, that it "is more than declarative, that it is truly effective ; 
insuring and conveying to the proper subjects thereof the very 
absolution or remission itself. "f This has been thought by some, 
from whose judgment I should be very unwilling to differ or recede, 
not only to carry the point higher than can be maintained, but 
also to be irreconcilable with my own notions of Absolution, as 
I have described them upon the office for the Visitation of the Sick y 
where they are thought to be more consistent with Scripture and 



Page 115. 



t Page 119, 120. 



THE PREFACE. 



vii 



antiquity. I have there endeavoured to shew that there is no 
" standing authority in the Ministers of the Gospel, to pardon or 
forgive sins immediately and directly in relation to God, and as to 
which the censure of the Church had been in no wise concerned." * 
And again, " that no absolution pronounced by the Church can 
cleanse or do away our inward guilt, or remit the eternal penalties 
of sin, which are declared to be due to it by the sentence of God, 
any further than by the prayers which are appointed to accompany 
it, and by the use of those ordinances to which it restores us, it 
may be a means, in the end, of obtaining our pardon from God, 
himself, and the forgiveness of sin as it relates to him."f These 
passages, I acknowledge, as they are separated from their contexts, 
and opposed to one another, seem a little inconsistent and con- 
fusedly expressed : but if each of them are read in their proper 
places, and with that distinction of ideas which I had framed to 
myself when I writ them, I humbly presume they may be easily 
reconciled, and both of them asserted with equal truth. I desire 
it may be remembered that in the latter place I am speaking of 
a judicial and unconditional absolution, pronounced by the Min- 
ister in an indicative form, as of certain advantage to the person 
that receives it. By this I have supposed the Church never intends 
to cleanse or do away our inward guilt, but only to exercise an 
external authority, founded upon the power of the keys ; which 
though it may be absolute, as to the inflicting and remitting the 
censures of the Church, I could not understand peremptorily to 
determine the state of the sinner in relation to God. And thus far 
I have the happiness to have the concurrence of good judges on 
my side ; so that it is only in what I assert on the daily absolution, 
that I have the misfortune not to be accounted so clear. But, 
with humble submission, I can see nothing there inconsistent with 
what I have said on the other. The absolution I am speaking of 
is conditional, pronounced by the Priest in a declarative form, 
and limited to such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's holy 
Gospel. This indeed I have asserted to be effective, and that it 
insures and conveys to the proper subjects thereof the very absolu- 
tion or remission itself: but then I desire it may be remembered 
that I attribute the effect of it not to a judicial, but to a ministerial 
act in the person who pronounces it: but to such an act however 
as is founded upon the general tenor of the Gospel, which supposes, 
if I mistake not, that God always accompanies the ministrations 
of the Priest, if there be no impediment on the part of the people. 
And therefore when the Priest, in the name of God, so solemnly 
declares to a congregation that has been humbly confessing their 
sins, and importuning the remission of them, that God does ac- 
tually pardon all that truly repent and unfeignedly believe ; why may 
not such of them as do repent and believe humbly presume that 
their pardon is sealed as well as made known by such declar- 
ation ? 



* Page 442. 



t Page 443. 



Vlll 



THE PREFACE. 



I am sure this notion gives no encouragement either of presump- 
tion to the penitent, or of arrogance to the Priest : I have supposed 
that, to receive any benefit from the form, the person must come 
within the terms required : and such a one, though the form should 
have no effect, is allowed notwithstanding to he pardoned and 
absolved. And the Priest I have asserted to act only ministerially, 
as the instrument of Providence ; that he can neither withhold, 
nor apply, the absolution as he pleases, nor so much as know upon 
whom or upon how many it shall take effect ; but that he only 
pronounces what God commands, whilst God himself ratifies the 
declaration, and seals the pardon which he proclaims. 

It is true, indeed, it does not appear by the ancient Liturgies, 
that the primitive Christians had any such absolution to be pro- 
nounced, as this is, to the congregation in general. But yet, if 
they had absolutions upon any occasion, and those absolutions 
were supposed to procure a reconcilement with God, (neither of 
which, I presume, will be thought to want a proof,) I see no 
reason why they may not be usefully admitted (as they are with 
us) into the daily and ordinary service of the Church. For allow- 
ing that the persons they were formerly used to, were such as had 
incurred ecclesiastical censure; yet it is confessed that the forms 
pronounced on those occasions immediately respected the con- 
science of the sinner, and not the outward regimen of the Church ; 
that they were instrumental to procure the forgiveness of God, 
whilst the ecclesiastical bond was declared to be released by an 
additional ceremony of the imposition of hands.* If then absolu- 
tions, even in the earliest ages, were thought to be instrumental 
to procure God's forgiveness to such sins as had deserved ecclesi- 
astical bonds ; why may they not be allowed as instrumental and 
proper to procure his forgiveness to sins of daily incursion, though 
they may not be gross enough, or at least enough public, to come 
within the cognizance of ecclesiastical censures ? If it be urged, 
that the ancient absolutions were never declarative, but either 
intercessional, like the prayer that follows the absolution in the 
office appointed for the Visitation of the Sick, or optative, like the 
form in our Office of Communion ; I think it may be answered, that 
the effect of the absolution does not at all depend upon the form 
of it, since the promises of God are either way applied, and it must 
be the sinner's embracing them with repentance and faith, that 
must make the application of them effectual to himself. 

I hope this explanation will justify my notions upon the daily 
absolution, as well as reconcile them with what I have said upon 
the other. I shall add nothing more in defence of them, than 
that they seem fully to be countenanced by the form itself, (as 
I have shewed at large upon the place,) and particularly by the 
inhibition of Deacons from pronouncing it:f which to me is an 
argument that our Church designed it for an effect, which it was 

* See Dr. Marshall's Penitential Discipline, page 93, &c. See also the forms of 
Absolution in his Appendix, numb. 4, 5, 6, 7. t See page 120, &c. 



THE PREFACE. 



IX 



beyond the commission of a Deacon to convey. Not that I would 
draw an argument from the opinion of our Church, where that 
opinion seems repugnant to Scripture or antiquity: but where it 
does not appear to be inconsistent with either, I think her decision 
should be allowed a due weight. Wherever I have found or sus- 

fected her to differ from one or the other, the reader will observe 
have not covered or disguised it; but on the contrary perhaps 
have been too hasty and forward, and too unguarded in my re- 
marks. But Truth was what I aimed at through my whole under- 
taking; which therefore I was resolved at any hazard to assert 
just as it appeared to me. It is not at all indeed unlikely that in 
so many points as the nature of this work has led me to consider, 
some things may appear as truths to me, which others, who have 
better opportunities of inquiring into them, may find to be other- 
wise : and therefore I can only profess that I have not advanced 
any thing but what I have believed to be true ; and that if I am 
any where in an error, I shall be always open to conviction, let 
the person that attempts it be adversary or friend ; since if truth 
can be attained to by any means at last, I shall not value from 
whom or from whence it proceeds : though I cannot but say, the 
satisfaction will be the greater if it appear on the side which our 
Church has espoused, notwithstanding the discovery may possibly 
demand some retractations on my own part, which in such case I 
shall always be ready to make, and think it a happiness to find 
myself mistaken. 

In the mean while, I request that where I am allowed to be right, 
I may not meet with the less favour, because I have shewed my- 
self fallible ; and particularly I would importune my reverend 
brethren of the Clergy, (upon whose countenance the success of 
this work must depend,) that if the Rubrics especially have been 
any where cleared, and with proper arguments enforced, they 
would join their assistance to make my endeavours of some service 
to the Church. For it will be but of very little use to have illus- 
trated the rule, unless they also concur to make the practice more 
uniform. And indeed I would hope that a small importunity would 
be sufficient to prevail with them, when they see what disgrace their 
compliances have brought both upon the Liturgy and themselves ; 
since not only the occasional offices are now in several places pros- 
tituted to the caprice of the people, to be used where, and when, 
and in what manner they please ; but even the daily and ordinary 
service is more than the Clergy themselves know how to perform in 
any Church but their own, before they have been informed of the 
particular custom of the place. 

But I would not presume to dictate to those from whom it would 
much better become me to learn : and therefore I shall only ob- 
serve further with regard to the citations I have had occasion to 
make, that I have but very seldom set down any of them at large, 
because I was willing to avoid all unnecessary means of swelling 
the book. Besides, I considered, that though I should cite them 
ever so distinctly, yet those who understand not the language they 



X 



THE PREFACE. 



were written in, must take my word for the meaning of them at 
last: and those who are capable of reading the originals, I sup- 
posed, would turn to the books themselves for any thing they 
should doubt of, how careful soever I should have been in tran- 
scribing them ; so that I thought it sufficient to be exact in my 
references, as to the tome, and page, and marginal letter, and then 
to insert a general table of the ecclesiastical writers, which should 
once for all shew the editions that I have used.* The reason of 
my adding the times when the writers flourished, was, that my less 
learned reader might gather from thence the antiquity of the se- 
veral rites and ceremonies I had occasion to treat of, by consulting 
when those authors lived who are produced in defence of them. 

* If I have any where made use of a different edition, I have taken care to specify 
it in the citation itself. 



v 



AN ALPHABETICAL INDEX 



OF THE 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS CITED IN THIS BOOK 



WITH THE TIMES "WHEN THEY FLOURISHED, A>TD THE 
EDITIONS MADE USE OF. 



Alcuin, A. D. 780. De Offic. Divin. Paris. 1610. 
Ambrose, A. D. 374. Opera, ed. Bened. Paris. 1686. 
Arnobius, A. D. 303. Adv. Gentes. Lugd. Bat. 1651. 
Atkanasius, A. D. 326. Opera, ed. Benedict. Paris. 1698. 
Atbenagoras, A. D. 177. Legatio by Deckair. Oxon. 1706. 
Augiistin, A. D. 396. Opera, ed. Benedict. Paris. 1679. 
Basil tbe Great, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1638. 
Bernard, A. D. 1115. Opera. Paris. 1640. 

Canons called Apostolical, most of tbem composed before A. D. 300. By 

Coteler. Antwerp. 1698. 
Cedrenus, A. D. 1056. Histor. Compend. Paris. 1649. 
Ckrysostom, A. D. 398. Opera, ed. Savil. Eton. 1612. 
Clemens of Alexandria, A. D. 192. Opera^ Paris. 1629. 
Clemens of Rome, A. D. 65. Epistolae by TV r otton. Cant. 1718. 
Codex Tbeodosianns, A. D.,438. Lugd. 1665. 

Constitutions called Apostolical, about A. D. 450. By Coteler. Antwerp. 169S 

Cvprian, A. D. 248. Opera by Fell. Oxon. 1682. 

Cyril of Jerusalem, A. D. 350. Opera by Mills. Oxon. 1703. 

Dionysius of Alexandria, A. D. 254. Epist. adv. Paul. Sam. Paris. 1610 

Dionysius, falsely called tbe Areopagite, A. D. 362. Opera. Paris. 1615. 

Durandus Mimatensis, A. D. 1286. " Rationale. Lugd. 1612. 

Durantus. De Rit. Eccles. Cath. Rom. 1591. 

Epipbanius, A. D. 368. Opera. Paris. 1622. 

Euagrius Scbolasticus, A. D. 594. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1673. 

Eusebius, A. D ; 315. Opera. Paris. 1659. 

^rennadius Massiliens, A. D. 495. De Eccles. Dogmat. Hamb. 1614. 

Gratian, A. D. 1131. Opera. Paris. 1601. 

Gregory the Great, A. D. 590. Opera. Paris. 1675. 

Gregory Nazianzen, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1630. 

Gregory Nyssen, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1615. 

Hierom or Jerome, A. D. 378. Opera, edit. Ben. Paris. 1704. 

Ignatius, A. D. 101. Opera by Smith. Oxon. 1709. 

Iremeus, A. D. 167. Adv. Hseres. by Grabe. Oxon. 1702. 

Isidore Hispalensis, A. D. 595. Opera. Paris. 1601. 

Isidore Peleusiota, A. D. 412. Opera. Paris. 1638. 

Justin Martyr, A. D. 140. Apol. 1. by Grabe. Oxon. 1700. Opera. Paris. 1615. 
Luctantius, A. D. 303. Opera by Spark. Oxon. 1684. 
Micrologus, A. D. 1080. De Eccles. Observ. Paris. 1610. 



xii 



INDEX OF ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. 



Mimicius Felix, A. D. 220. Octavius by Davis. Cant. 1712. 
Nicephorus Calistus, A. D. 1333. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1630 
Optatus Milevitanus, A. D. 368. Opera. Paris. 1679. 
Orison, A. D. 230. Opera Latine. Paris. 1604. 
Paulinus, A. D. 420. Lib. contr. Felic. Paris. 1610. 
Paulus Diaconus, A. D. 757- Opera. Paris. 1611. 
Polycarp, A. D. 108. Ep. ad Phil, by Smith. Oxon. 1709. 
Pontius Diaconus, A. D. 251. Vita S. Cypr. before St. Cyprian's Works 
Oxon. 1682. 

Proclus, A. D. 434. De Trad. Div. Lit. Paris. 1560. 

lluffinus, A. D. 390. In Symbolum at the end of St. Cyprian's Works. 

Socrates, A. D. 439. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1668. 

Sozomen, A. D. 440. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1668. 

Synesius, A. D. 410. Opera. Paris. 1631. 

Tatian, A. D. 172. Orat. ad Gr. by Worth. Oxon. 1700. 

Tertullian, A. D. 192. Opera by Rigaltius. Paris. 1675. 

Theodoret, A. D. 423. Opera. Paris. 1642. 

Theodosius Junior. See Codex Theodosianus. 

Theophilus Antiochen, A. D. 168. Ad Autolyc. by Fell. Oxon. 1684. 
Theophylact, A. D. 1077. Commentarii. Paris. 1631. 



COUNCILS. 



By Labbee and Cossart, in 15 tomes. Paris. 16/1. 



Agathense, A. D. 506. 
Aurelianense 1, A. D. 511. 
Bracharense 1, A. D. 563. 
Calchutense, A. D. 787- 
Carthaginense 3, A. D. 252. 
Carthaginense 4, A. D. 253. 
Constantinop. 2, Gen. A. D. 381. 
Constant. 6, Gen. See Quini-sextum. 
Eliberitanum, A. D. 305. 
Gerundense 1, A. D. 517. 
Laodicenum, A. D. 367. 
Milevitan. 1, A. D. 402. 



Neocsesariense, A. D. 315. 
Nicenum 1, Gen. A. D. 325. 
Orleance 1. See Aurelianense 1. 
Placentinum, A. D. 1095. 
Quini-sextum in Trullo, A. D. 692. 
Rhemense 2, A. D. 813. 
Sardicense, A. D. 347. 
Toletanum 3, A. D. 589. 
Triburiense, A. D. 895. 
Trullan. See Quini-sextum, 
Vasense 1, A. D. 442. 
Vasense 2, A. D. 529. 



A 



RATIONAL ILLUSTRATION 

OF THE 

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE, 

SHEWING THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF A NATIONAL 
PRECOMPOSED LITUEGY. 

Most of the objections urged by the Dissenters against the 
Church of England, to justify their separation from it, being 
levelled against its form and manner of divine worship, pre- 
scribed in the Book of Common Prayer, &c, are, in the 
following Discourse, answered, as fully as its brevity would 
permit. So that, though the principal design of this book be 
to instruct such as are friends to our Church and Liturgy ; 
yet it is not impossible but that, by the blessing of God, it 
may in some measure contribute to the undeceiving some that 
are enemies to both, (such I mean as are disaffected to the 
former, upon no other account, than a prejudice to the 
latter;) especially could we, by first convincing them of the 
Lawfulness and Necessity of National precomposed Li- 
turgies in general, prevail with them to take an impartial 
view of what is here offered in behalf of our own. To this 
end therefore, and to make the following sheets of as general 
use as I can, I shall, by way of Introduction, endeavour to 
prove these three things ; viz. 

I. First, That the ancient Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, 
and the primitive Christians, never joined (as far as we can 
prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set forms only. 

II. Secondly, That those precomposed set forms, in which 
they joined, were such as the respective congregations were 
accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. 

III. Thirdly, That their practice warrants the imposition 
of a National precomposed Liturgy. 



2 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



I. First, I am to prove that the ancient Jews, our Sa- 
viour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, never joined 
(as far as we can prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set 
forms only. And this I shall do by shewing, 

1. First, That they did join in precomposed set forms of 
prayer. 

2. Secondly, That (as far as we can conjecture) they never 
joined in any other. 

1. First, I shall shew that tlie ancient Jews, our Saviour, 
his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, did join in pre- 
composed set forms of prayer. 

1st, To begin with the Jews, we find that the first piece of 
solemn worship recorded in Scripture is a hymn of praise, 
composed by Moses upon the deliverance of the children of 
Israel from the Egyptians, which was sung by all the con- 
gregation alternately ; by Moses and the men first, and after- 
wards by Miriam and the women : 1 which could not have 
been done unless it had been a precomposed set form. Again, 
in the expiation of an uncertain murder, the elders of the city 
which is next to the slain are expressly commanded to say, 
and consequently to join in saying, a form of prayer, pre- 
composed by God himself. 2 And in other places of Scripture 3 
we meet with several other forms of prayer, precomposed by 
God, and prescribed by Moses ; which though they were not 
to be joined in by the whole congregation, are yet sufficient 
precedents for the use of precomposed set forms. But further, 
the Scriptures assure us, that David appointed the Levites to 
stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and 
likewise at evefif which rule was observed in the temple 
afterwards built by Solomon, and restored at the building of 
the second temple after the captivity. 5 Lastly, the whole 
book of Psalms were forms of prayer and praise, indited by 
the Holy Ghost, for the joint use of the congregation ; as 
appears as well from the titles of several of the Psalms, as 
from other places of Scripture. 

Innumerable proofs might be brought, both ancient and 
modern, that the Jews did always worship God by precom- 
posed set forms : but the world is fully satisfied of this truth, 
from the concurrent testimonies of Josephus, Philo, Paul 

1 Exod. xv. 1, 20, 21. 2 Deut. xxi. 7/8. 3 Numb. vi. 22, &c. chap. x. 35, 36. 
Deut. xxvi. 3, 5, &c. ver. 13, &c. 4 1 Chron. xxiii. 30. 5 Neh. xii. 44, 45, 46. 
6 See Psal. xlii., xliv., &c. Psal. iv., v., vi., &c. Psal. xcii. 7 1 Chron. xvi. 7. 2 
Chron. xxix. 30. Ezra iii. 10, 11. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



3 



Fagius, Scaliger, Buxtorf, and Selden in Eutychium. The 
reader may consult two learned men of our own, viz. Dr. 
Hammond (who both proves that the Jews used set forms, 
and that their prayers and praises, &c. were in the same order 
as our Common Prayer y ) and Dr. Lightfoot, who not only 
asserts they worshipped God by stated forms, but also sets 
down both the order and method of their hymns and suppli- 
cations. 9 So that there is no more reason to doubt of their 
having and using a precomposed settled Liturgy, than of our 
own having and using the Book of Common Prayer, &c, and 
of its consisting of precomposed set forms. We shall therefore 
proceed in the next place to inquire into the practice of our 
Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians. 

And, 1st, for our Saviour; there is not the least doubt to 
be made, but that he continued always in communion with 
the Jewish Church, and was zealous and exemplary in their 
public devotions ; and consequently took all opportunities of 
joining in those precomposed set forms of prayer, which 
were daily used in the Jewish congregations, as the learned 
Dr. Lightfoot has largely proved. 10 And we may be sure, 
that had not our Saviour very constantly attended their 
public worship, and joined in the devotions of their congre- 
gations, the scribes and Pharisees, his bitter and implacable 
enemies, and great zealots for the temple-service, would 
doubtless have cast it in his teeth, and reproached him as an 
ungodly wretch, that despised prayer, &c. But nothing of 
this nature do we find in the whole New Testament ; and 
therefore, had we no other grounds than these to go upon, we 
might safely conclude, that our blessed Saviour was a con- 
stant attendant on the public service of the Jews, and conse- 
quently that he joined in precomposed set forms of prayer. 

And, 2ndly, as to the Apostles and our Lord's other dis- 
ciples, their practice was doubtless the same till our Saviour's 
ascension ; after which (besides that they did probably still 
join as before in the Jewish worship, 11 which consisted of pre- 
composed set forms) it is plain that they used precomposed 
set forms in their Christian assemblies, during the remainder 
of their lives. 

As the primitive Christians also did in the following ages : 
as will appear, 

8 View of the Directory, p. 136, and bis Oxford Papers, p. 260, vol. i. 9 Dr. Light- 
foot's Works, vol. i. p. 922, 942, 946. i" Ibid. vol. ii. part ii. p. 1036, &c. 11 See Acts 
1. xiii. 15. xvii. 2. 

B 2 



4 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introductiok, 



JL. From their joining in the use of the Lord's prayer. 

2. From their joining in the use of Psalms. 

3. From their joining in the use of divers precomposed set 
forms of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer and Psalms. 

1. They joined in the use of the Lord's prayer. And this 
is sufficiently evident from our Saviour's having commanded 
them so to do : for whatever dispute may be made about the 
word ovrwg, in St. Matthew vi. 9, which is translated not ex- 
actly, but paraphrastically, after this manner, but ought 
with greater accuracy to be rendered so, or thus ; 12 yet if we 
should grant that our Lord in this place only proposed this 
prayer as a directory and pattern to make our other prayers 
by, we should still find afterwards, upon another occasion, 
viz. when his disciples requested him to teach them to pray, 
as John had also taught his disciples, he prescribed the use 
of these very words ; expressly bidding them, JVhen ye pray, 
say, Our Father.™ I suppose nobody hath so mean an 
opinion, either of St. John's or our Saviour's disciples, as to 
think they were ignorant how to pray : therefore it is plain 
they could mean nothing else by their request, but that Christ 
would give them this peculiar form, as a badge of their be- 
longing to him ; according to the custom of the Jewish 
Doctors, who always taught their disciples a peculiar form to 
add to their own; 14 so that either our Saviour instructed 
them to use this very form of words, or else he did not answer 
the design of their requests. 

But it is objected, that " if our Lord had intended this 
prayer should be used as a set form, he would not have added 
the Doxology, when he delivered it at one time, as it is re- 
corded in St. Matthew, and omit it, when he delivered it 
upon another occasion, as in St. Luke." 

But to this we answer, That learned men are very much 
divided in their opinions, concerning the Doxology in St. 
Matthew ; some thinking it is, and others that it is not, a part 
of the original text. Whether it be or be not, we need not 
here dispute, but argue with our adversaries upon either sup- 
position. 

For, 1st, if they think it is not a part of the original text, 

12 In which signification it is always used in the Septuagint Version of the Bible, 
as appears by comparing Numb. vi. 23. xxiii. 5. Isa. viii. 11. xxviii. 16. xxx. 15. 
xxxvii. 33. and some other places, with Numb, xxiii. 16. Isaiah xxx. 12. xxxvii. 21. 
liii. 3. For in the former texts, ovtco Xe^et 6 Kvpios, thus saith the Lord, bears the 
same signification as rahe Xeyei 6 Kupior, this saith the Lord, in the latter. 13 Luke 
xi. 1, 2, &c. w Dr. Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 158. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



5 



then their objection is groundless : for there is nothing found 
in one Evangelist, but what is also found in the other ; and 
the form, as to the sense of it, is exactly the same in both : 
for though one or two expressions may differ, yet the Syriac 
words, in which we know our Lord delivered it, are equally 
capable of both translations. 

But, 2ndly, if they think the Doxology is a part of the 
original text ; we answer, The addition of it is as good an 
argument against the Lord's prayer being a directory for the 
matter of prayer, as it can be against its being an established 
set form of prayer. For we may say, in the language of our 
adversaries, if Christ had intended his prayer for a directory 
for the matter of prayer, he would not have given such differ- 
ent directions, ordering us to add a Doxology to the end of 
our prayers at one time, and omitting that order at another. 
If therefore the addition of the Doxology be (as they must 
grant upon their own principles) no objection against its being 
a directory for the matter of prayer ; then certainly it is no ob- 
jection against its being an established set form. For the 
difference of our prayers will be every whit as great in follow- 
ing this pattern, by sometimes omitting and sometimes adding 
a Doxology at the end of our prayers, as it can possibly be, by 
using the Lord's prayer, sometimes with, and at other times 
without, the Doxology. The utmost therefore that can be 
concluded from the Doxology's being a part of the original 
text in St. Matthew, is this : That our Lord, though he com- 
manded the use of the Lord's prayer, does not insist upon the 
use of the Doxology, but leaves it indifferent ; or at most, 
orders it to be sometimes used, and sometimes omitted, as our 
established Church practises. But the other essential parts of 
the prayer are to be used notwithstanding ; it being very ab- 
surd to omit the use of the whole, because the latter part of 
it is not enjoined to be used constantly with the rest. 

But it is further objected, 1st, That, "supposing our Sa- 
viour did prescribe it as a form ; yet it was only /or a time, 
till they should be more fully instructed, and enabled to pray 
by the assistance of the Holy Ghost." And to urge this with 
the greater force, they tell us, 2ndly, " That before Chrisfs 
ascension, the disciples had asked nothing in his name, lb 
whereas they were taught, that after his ascension they should 
offer up all their prayers in his name. 16 Now this prayer, say 

15 John xvi. 24. 16 John xiv. 13. and chap. xvi. 23. 



6 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



they, having nothing of his name in it, could not be designed 
to be used after his ascension." Accordingly they tell us, 
3rdly, " That though we read in the Acts of the Apostles of 
several prayers made by the Church, yet we find not any in- 
timation, that they ever used this form." 17 

Whatever resemblances of truth these objections may seem 
to carry with them at first sight, if we look narrowly into 
them, we shall find them to be grounded upon principles as 
dangerous as false. 

For, 1st, If, because our Saviour hath not in express words 
commanded this form of prayer to be used for ever, we con- 
clude that it was only prescribed for a time ; we must neces- 
sarily allow, that whatever Christ hath instituted without 
limitation of time does not always oblige ; and, consequently, 
we may declare Christ's institutions to be null without his au- 
thority ; and at that rate cry down baptism and the Lord's 
supper for temporary prescriptions, as well as the Lord's 
prayer. 

In answer to the second objection, we may observe, that to 
pray in Christ's name, is to pray in his mediation; depend- 
ing upon his merits and intercession for the acceptance of our 
prayers ; and therefore prayers may be offered up in Christ's 
name, though we do not name him. And as for the Lord's 
prayer, it is so framed, that it is impossible to offer it up, un- 
less it be in the name of Christ : for we have no right or title 
to call God our Father, unless it be through the merits and 
mediation of Jesus Christ ; who hath made us heirs of God, 
and joint-heirs with himself And therefore Christ's not 
inserting his own name in his prayer, does by no means prove, 
that he did not design it for a standing form. 

And, 3rdly, as to the objection of the Scriptures not once 
intimating the use of this prayer, in those places where it 
speaks of others ; we might answer, that we may as well con- 
clude from the silence of the Scripture, that the Apostles did 
not baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, as that they did not use this prayer ; since they had 
as strict a command to do the one as the other. But besides, 
in all those places, except two, 18 there is nothing else men- 
tioned, but that they prayed ; no mention at all of the words 
of their prayers ; and therefore there is no reason why we 

17 Chap. i. 24. ii. 42. iv. 24, vi. 6. viii. 15. xii. 12. xiii. 3. xx. 36. ,s Acts i. 24. 
and chap. iv. 24 



rxTRODUCTrox.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



7 



should expect a particular intimation of the Lord's prayer. 
And as for those prayers mentioned in the aforesaid places, I 
do not see how they can prove from thence, that they were 
offered up in the name of Christ. 

But, lastly, it is objected, that " the words of this prayer are 
improper to be used now ; because therein we pray that God's 
kingdom may come now, which came many ages since, viz. at 
our Saviour's ascension into heaven." 

But in answer to this, I think it sufficient to observe, that 
though the foundations of God's kingdom were laid then, yet 
it is not yet completed. For since we know that all the world 
must be converted to Christianity, and the Jews, Turks, and 
Infidels still make up the far greater part of it, we have as 
much reason upon this account to pray for the coming ot* 
God's kingdom now as ever. And if we consider those parts 
of the world which have already embraced Christianity, I can- 
not think it improper to pray, that they may sincerely prac- 
tise what they believe ; which conduces much more to the 
advancement of God's kingdom, than a bare profession does 
without such practice. 

Since therefore, from what has been said, it appears that our 
Saviour prescribed the Lord's prayer as a standing form, and 
commanded his Apostles and other disciples to use it as such ; 
it is not to be suspected but that they observed this command ; 
especially since the accounts which we have from antiquity do 
(though the Scriptures be silent in the matter) fully prove it 
to have been their constant custom ; as appears by a numer- 
ous cloud of witnesses, who' conspire in attesting this truth : 
of which I shall only instance in a few. 

And first, Tertullian was, without all doubt, of opinion, that 
Christ delivered the Lord's prayer, not as a directory only, but 
as a precomposed set form, to be used by all Christians. For 
he says, " 19 The Son taught us to pray, Our Father, which art 
• in heaven;" i. e. he taught us to use the Lord's prayer. And 
| speaking of the same prayer, he says, " 20 Our Lord gave his 
new disciples of the New Testament a new form of prayer." 
I He calls it, " 20 The prayer appointed by Christ," and " 21 The 
prayer appointed by Law," (for so the word legitima must be 
rendered,) and " the ordinary " (i. e. the usual and customary) 
44 prayer which is to be said before our other prayers ; and 
upon which, as a foundation, our other prayers are to be 

» Adv. Prax. c. 23, p. 514, A. 20 De Orat. c. i. p. 129, A. 21 Ibid. c. ix. p. 1 33, B. 



8 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



built : " and tells us, that " 22 the use of it was ordained by our 
Saviour." 

Next, St. Cyprian 23 tells us, that " Christ himself gave us a 
form of prayer, and commanded us to use it ; because, when 
we speak to the Father in the Son's words, we shall be more 
easily heard; " and that " 24 there is no prayer more spiritual 
or true than the Lord's prayer." And therefore he most 
earnestly 25 exhorts men to the use of it as often as they pray. 

Again, St. Cyril of Jerusalem calls it, " 26 the prayer which 
Christ gave his disciples, and 27 which God hath taught us." 

About the same time Optatus takes it for granted that it is 
commanded. 28 

After him, St. Chrysostom calls it, " 29 the prayer enjoined 
by laws, and brought in by Christ." 

In the same century St. Austin tells us, " 30 that our Saviour 
gave it to the Apostles, to the intent that they should use it : 
that he taught it his disciples himself, and by them he taught 
it us ; that he dictated it to us, as a lawyer would put words 
in his client's mouth ; that it is necessary for all, i. e. such as 
all were bound to use ; and that we cannot be God's children, 
unless we. use it." 

Lastly, St. Gregory Nyssen says, " 31 that Christ shewed his 
disciples how they should pray, by the words of the Lord's 
prayer." And Theodoret assures us, that " 32 the Lord's 
prayer is a form of prayer, and that Christ has commanded us 
to use it." But testimonies of this kind are numberless. 

If therefore the judgment of the ancient Fathers maybe re- 
lied on, who knew the practice of the Apostles much better 
than we can pretend to do ; we may dare to affirm, that the 
Apostles did certainly use the Lord's prayer : and if it be 
granted that they used it, we may reasonably suppose that 
they joined in the use of it. For, besides that it is very im- 
probable that a Christian assembly should, in their public de- 
votions, omit that prayer which was the badge of their dis- 
cipleship ; the very petitions of the prayer, running all along- 
in the plural number, do evidently shew, that it was primarily 
designed for the joint use of a congregation. 

That the Christians of the first centuries used it in their 

23 De Orat. c. ix. p. 133, A. 23 De Orat. Domin. p. 139. 24 Ibid. « Ibid. p. 139, 
140. 26 Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 8, p. 298, lin. 12, &c. 27 Ibid. §. 15, p. 300, lin. 24. 
2 s De Schism. Donatist. 1. 4, p. 88. 29 Horn. II. in 2 Cor. torn. iii. p. 553, lin. 21, 22. 
30 Ep. 157, torn. ii. col. 543, B. et Serm. 58, torn. v. col. 337, D. E. 31 De Orat. Domin. 
Orat. 1, torn. i. p. 7]2, B. 38 Haeret. Fabul.lib. 5, cap. 28, torn. iv. p. 316, B. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



9 



assemblies, is evident from its being always used in the cele- 
bration of the Lord's supper, 33 which for some ages was per- 
formed every day. 34 And St. Austin tells us in express words, 
that " 35 it was said at God*s altar every day." So that, with- 
out enlarging any more, I shall look upon it as sufficiently 
proved, that the Apostles and primitive Christians did join in ' 
the use of the Lord's prayer ; which is one plain argument 
that they joined in the use of precomposed set forms of prayer. 
Another argument I shall make use of to prove it, is, 

2. Their joining in the use of Psalms. For we are told, 
that Paul 36 and Silas, when they were in prison, prayed and 
sang praises to God. And this we must suppose they did 
audibly, because the prisoners heard them, and consequently 
they would have disturbed each other, had they not united in 
the same prayers and praises. 

Again, St. Paul blames the Corinthians, because, when they 
came together, every one had a psalm, had a doctrine^ &c. 
Where we must not suppose that he forbad the use of psalms 
in public worship, any more than he did the use of doctrines, 
&c. ; but that he is displeased with them for not having the psalm 
all together, i. e. for not joining in it; that so the whole con- 
gregation might attend one and the same part of divine service 
at the same time. Prom whence we may conclude, that the 
use of psalms was a customary thing, and that the Apostle 
approved of it ; only ordering them to join in the use of them, 
which we may reasonably suppose they did for the future ; 
since we find by the Apostle's second Epistle to them, that 
they reformed their abuses. 

Thus also in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 3S the Apostle ex- 
horts them to speak to themsehes with psalms, and hymns* 
and spiritiml songs, singing and making melody in their 
• hearts to the Lord. And he bids the Colossians 39 teach and 
admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual 
, songs, singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord. Prom i 
all which texts of Scripture, and several others that might be al- 
leged, we must necessarily conclude, that joint psalmody was 
instituted by the Apostles, as a constant part of divine worship. 

And that the primitive Christians continued it, is a thing so 
notorious, that it seems wholly needless to cite any testimonies 

33 Cyril. Hieros. (as before quoted in note 26 and 27 , page foregoing). Hieron. adv. Pelag. 
lib. 3, cap. 5, torn. ii. p. 596, C August. Epist. 149, torn. ii. col. 505, C 34 Cyprian, 
de Orat. Dom. p. 147. Basil. Epist. 2S9, torn. iii. p. 279, A. B. 35 Serm. 58, cap. 10, t. 
v. ool. 342, F. 35 Acts xvi. 25. 37 1 Cor. xiv. 20. 3 s Chap. v. 19. 39 Col. iii. 16 



10 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction-. 



to prove it : I shall therefore only point to such places at the 
bottom of the page, 40 as will sufficiently satisfy any, that will 
think it worth their while to consult them. 

The practice therefore of the Apostles and primitive Chris- 
tians, in joining in the use of psalms, is another intimation, 
that they joined in the use of precomposed set forms of pray- 
er. For though all psalms be not prayers, because some of 
them are not spoken to God ; yet it is certain a great part of 
them are, because they are immediately directed to him ; as is 
evident, as well from the psalms of David, as from several 
Christian hymns : 41 and, consequently, the Apostles and pri- 
mitive Christians, by jointly singing such psalms in their con- 
gregations, did join in the use of precomposed set forms of 
prayer. It only remains then that I prove, 

3. That they joined in the use of divers precomposed set 
forms of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer and psalms. 

And 1st, as to the Apostles, we are told that Peter and John, 
after they had been threatened, and commanded not to preach 
the Gospel, went to their own company, and reported all 
that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And 
when they heard that, they lift up their voice to God with 
one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, 42 &c. 

Now in this place we are told, that the whole company lift 
up their voice with one accord, and said, (i. e. the}'- joined all 
together with audible voices in using these words,) Lord, thou, 
art God, &c. ; which they could not possibly have done, unless 
the prayer they used was a precomposed set form. For what- 
ever may be said in favour of joining mentally, with a prayer 
conceived extempore ; I suppose nobody will contend, that it 
is possible for a considerable congregation to join vocally or 
aloud, as the Apostles and their company are here said to have 
done, in a prayer so conceived. 

But some may object, that " though it is affirmed, that the 
whole company lift up their voice, and said the prayer here 
mentioned ; yet it is possible that one only might do so in 
the name of all the rest, who joined mentally with him, though 
not in an audible manner." To this we answer, That the 

40 Plin. Epist. 1. 10, Ep. 97, p. 284. Oxon. 1703. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 5, c. 28, p. 196, 
A. Just. Mart. Epist. ad Zen. et Seren. p. 509, A. Cvril. Hieros. Catech. 13, §. 3. p. 
180, lin. 9, &c. Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 17, p. 300, lin. 34, Sec. Socr. Hist. Eccl. 1. 2. c. 
11, p. 89, A. Athanas. ad Marcellin. Epist. §. 27, t. i. par. 2, p. 999, B. — All these, 
and many others, mention the Church's using psalms in the public assemblies, as a 
practice that had universally obtained from the times of the Apostles. 41 As St. Am- 
brose's Te Deum, and the like. 49 Acts nr. 23, 24. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



II 



Scripture never attributes that to a whole congregation or 
multitude, which is literally true of a single person onl) r , ex- 
cept in such cases, where the thing related requires the con- 
sent of the whole multitude, but could not conveniently be 
performed or done by every one of them in their own persons. 
But I suppose no one will pretend, either that it was impossi- 
ble for the Apostles and their company to lift up their voice, 
and say the prayers recited in the context, or that God could 
not hear or understand them when speaking all together. 

But that which puts the matter out of all doubt, is the fol- 
lowing consideration, viz. that the company is not barely said 
to have lift up their voice, but to have lift it up [o/ioftymSov] 
with one accord, or all together; which adverb is so placed, 
that it cannot be joined to any other verb than rjoav * and no- 
thing is more evident, than that this adverb implies and de- 
notes a conjunction of persons ; and consequently, since it is 
here applied to all the company, and particularly to that action 
of theirs, viz. their lifting up their voice ; it is manifest 
that they did all of them lift up their respective voices, and 
that they could not be said to have lift up their voices in that 
sense which this objection supposes, viz. by appointing one 
person to lift up his single voice for them all. For if they did 
so, then the historian's words must signify, that the whole 
congregation lift up their voice together, by appointing one 
man to lift up his particular voice in conjunction with himself 
alone ; which is such nonsense, as cannot, without blasphemy, 
be imputed to an inspired writer. So that it is undeniably 
plain, that the persons here said to have been present, uttered 
their prayer all together, and spake all at the same time ; and 
consequently, that the prayer must be aprecomposed set form. 

If any person should be so extravagant as to imagine, that 
" the whole congregation was inspired at that very instant with 
the same words ; and, consequently, that they might all of * 
them break forth at once, and join vocally in the same prayer, 
though it were not precomposed ;" we need only reply, that 
this assertion is utterly groundless, having neither any show of 
reason, nor so much as one example in all history to warrant it. 

But it may perhaps be objected, that " the Apostles and their 
company could have no notice of this unforeseen accident : 
and therefore could not be prepared with such a precomposed 
set form of thanksgiving ; and that it was uttered so soon 
after the relation of what had befallen the Apostles, that if it 



12 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introuuctiok. 



had been composed upon that occasion, it seems impossible 
that copies of it should have been delivered out for the com- 
pany to be so far acquainted with it, as immediately to join 
vocally in it." To which we answer, (1.) That since we have 
evidently proved, from their joining vocally in it, that it must 
have been a precomposed set form ; it lies upon our adversa- 
ries to answer our argument, more than it does upon us to 
account for this difficulty ; for a difficulty, though it could not 
be easily accounted for, is by no means sufficient to confront 
and overthrow a clear demonstration. But, (2.) this difficulty 
is not so great as it may at first appear : for there is nothing 
in the whole prayer, but what might properly be used every 
day by a Christian congregation, so long as the powers of the 
world were opposing and threatening such as preached the 
Gospel, and the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost were con- 
tinued in the Church : so that those who think this prayer to 
have been conceived and used on that emergency only, and 
never either before or after, do, in reality, beg the question, 
and take that for granted which they cannot prove. For the 
Scripture says nothing like it, nor do the circumstances require 
it ; and therefore it is very probable that it was a standing 
form, well known in the Church, and frequently used, as oc- 
casion offered : and, consequently, upon this occasion, (on 
which it is manifest it was highly seasonable and proper,) they 
immediately brake forth, and vocally uttered, and jointly said 
it, and perhaps added it to their other daily devotions, which, 
we may very well suppose, they used at the same time, though 
the historian takes no notice of it. 

There remains still another objection, which may possibly 
be made, viz. that "the holy Scriptures, when they relate what 
was spoken, especially by a multitude, do not always give us 
the very words that were spoken, but only the sense of them; 
and accordingly in this instance, perhaps the congregation did 
not jointly offer up that very prayer, but when they had heard 
what the Apostles told them, they might all break out at one 
and the same time into vocal prayer, and every man utter 
words much to the same sense, though they might not join in 
one and the same form." But to remove this objection, we 
need only reflect upon the intolerable confusion such a prac- 
tice must of necessity cause ; for that they all prayed vocally, 
has been evidently proved : if therefore they did not join in 
the same prayer, but offer up every man different words, though 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



13 



to the same sense : it must necessarily follow, that the whole 
company would, instead of uniting in their devotions, inter- 
rupt and distract each other's prayers. 

How much more reasonable then is it to believe, that the 
Apostles and their company, who then prayed all together 
vocally, upon so solemn an occasion, did really use the same 
prayer, and join in the same words ! And if so, then the ar- 
gument already offered is a demonstration that they joined in 
a precomposed set form of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer 
and psalms. 

And that the primitive Christians did very early use pre- 
composed set forms in their public worship, is evident from 
the names given to their public prayers ; for they are called 
the common prayers,^ constituted prayers,^ and solemn 
nrayers} 5 But that which puts the matter out of all doubt, 
are the Liturgies ascribed to St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. 
James ; which, though corrupted by later ages, are doubtless 
of great antiquity. For besides many things which have a 
strong relish of that age, that of St. James was of great 
authority in the Church of Jerusalem in St. Cyril's time, 
who has a comment upon it still extant, 46 which St. Jerome 
says was writ in his younger years : 47 and it is not probable 
that St. Cyril would have taken the pains to explain it, unless 
it had been of general use in the Church ; which we cannot 
suppose it could have obtained in less than seventy or eighty 
years. Now St. Cyril was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem either 
in the year 349 or 351 ; to which office, it is very well known, 
seldom any were promoted before they were pretty well in 
years. If therefore he writ his comment upon this Liturgy 
in his younger years, we cannot possibly date it later than the 
year 340 ; and then, allowing the Liturgy to have obtained in 
the Church about eighty years, it necessarily follows that it 
must have been composed in the year 260, which was not 
above 160 years after the apostolical age. It is declared by 
Proclus 48 and the sixth general Council, 49 to be of St. James's 
own composing. And that there are forms of worship in it 
as ancient as the Apostles, seems highly probable ; for all the 
form, Sursum corda, is there, and in St. Cyril's comment. 

^Koivai ei%aL Just. Mart. Apol. 1, C. 85, p. 124, lin. 28 . 44 Evxal npo(7rax0el(Ta.i. 
Origen. cont. Cels. 1. 6, p. 312. Aug. Vindel. 1605. 45 Preces solennes. Cypr. De 
Laps. p. 132. 4 « Catech. Myst. 5, a p. 295 ad p. 301. 47 Catalog. Scriptor. Eccles. 
torn. i. p. 317, num. 123. 48 De Trad. Div. Liturg. ap. Bonam. de Rebus Liturgicis, 
1. 1, c. 9, p. 157. 49 Can. 32. Concil. torn. vi. col. 1158, B. 



14 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



The same is in the Liturgies of Rome and Alexandria, and in 
the Constitutions of Clemens, 50 which all agree are of great 
antiquity, though not so early as they pretend ; and St. 
Cyprian, who was living within an hundred years after the 
Apostles, makes mention of it as a form then used and re- 
ceived, 51 which Nicephorus does also of the Trisagium in 
particular. 5 ' 4 We do not deny but that these Liturgies may 
have been interpolated in after-times : but that no more over- 
throws the antiquity of the groundwork of them, than the 
large additions to a building prove there was no house before. 
It is an easy matter to say, that such Liturgies could not be 
St. James's or St. Mark's, because of such errors or mistakes, 
and interpolations of things and phrases of later times. But 
what then ? Is this an argument that there were no ancient 
Liturgies in the churches of Jerusalem or Alexandria ; when 
so long since as in Origen's time, 53 we find an entire collect 
produced by him out of the Alexandrian Liturgy r And the 
like may be shewed as to other churches, which by degrees 
came to have their Liturgies much enlarged by the devout 
additions of some extraordinary men, who had the care of the 
several churches afterwards : such as were St. Basil, St. 
Chrvsostom, and others. So that, notwithstanding their in- 
terpolations, the Liturgies themselves are a plain demonstra- 
tion of the use of divers precomposed set forms of prayer, 
besides the Lord's prayer and psalms, even in the first and 
second centuries. 

And that in Constantine's time the Church used such pre- 
composed set forms, is evident from Eusebius, who tells us of 
Constantine's 54 composing a prayer for the use of his soldiers ; 
and in the next chapter 55 gives us the words of the prayer; 
which makes it undeniably plain, that it was a set form of 
words. If it be said, that " Constantine's composing a form 
is a plain evidence, that at that time there were no public 
forms in the Church ; " we answer, that this form was only 
for his heathen soldiers ; for the story tells us, 56 that he gave 
his Christian soldiers liberty to go to church. And therefore 
all that can be gathered from hence is, that the Christian 
Church had no form of prayers for heathen soldiers ; which is 
no great wonder, since if they had, it is very unlikely that 

50 L. 8, c. 12, torn. i. p. 345, E. 51 De Orat. Domin. p. 152 . 52 Hist. Eccles. 1. 18. 
c. 53, torn. ii. p. 883, B. 53 Orig. in Jerem. Horn. XIV. vol. i. p. 141, edit. Huet. 
Bothomag. 1668. 54 De vita Constant. 1. 4, c. 19, p. 535, B. » Ibid. c. 20, p. 535, C 
» Ibid. c. 18, p. 534, D. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



15 



they would have used it. But that the Church had forms of 
prayer is evident, because the same author calls the prayers 
which Constantine used in his court ('EtCKXrjaiag Qeov rpoTrov, 
according to the manner of the Church 57 of God) evicts kvQic- 
[xovg, authorized prayers ; which is the same title he gave to 
that form which he made for his heathen soldiers. 58 And 
therefore if by the authorized prayers, which he prescribed to 
the soldiers, he meant a form of prayer, as it is manifest he 
did, then by the authorized prayers which he used in his 
court, after the manner of the Church of God, he must mean 
a form of prayers also. And since he had a form of prayers 
in his court, after the manner of the Church, the Church must 
necessarily have a form of prayers too. 

It is plain then, that the three first centuries joined in the 
use of divers precomposed set forms of prayer, besides the 
Lord's prayer and psalms : after which, (besides the Liturgies 
of St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and St. Ambrose,) we have also 
undeniable testimonies of the same. 59 Gregory Nazianzen says, 
that " St. Basil composed orders and forms of prayer." 60 And 
St. Basil himself, reciting the manner of the public service 
that was used in the monastical oratories of his institution, 
says, 61 that " nothing was therein done but what was consonant 
and agreeable to all the churches of God." The Council of 
Laodicea expressly provides, 62 " that the same Liturgy or form 
of prayer should be always used, both at the ninth hour, and 
in the evening." And this canon is taken into the Collection 
of the Canons of the Catholic Church ; which Collection was 
established in the fourth general Council of Chalcedon, in the 
year 451 ; 63 by which establishment the whole Christian Church 
was obliged to the use of Liturgies, so far as the authority of 
a general Council extends. 

It were very easy to add many other proofs of the same 
kind, within the compass of time to which those I have al- 
ready produced do belong; 64 but the brevity of my design only 
allows me to mention such as are so obviously plain as to admit 
of no objections. To descend into the following ages, is not 
worth my while ; for the greatest enemies to precomposed set 
forms of prayer do acknowledge, that in the fourth and fifth 
centuries, and ever after, till the times of the Beformation, 

47 De vita Constant. 1. 4, c. 17, p. 534, A. 5S Ibid. c. 19, p. 535, B. 59 See St. Chry- 
sost. Homil. XVIII. in Ep. 2, ad Corinth, torn. iii. p. 647. Concil. Carthag. 3, can. 23, 
torn. ii. col. 1170. De Concil. Milev. 2, can. 12, torn. ii. col. 1540, E. 60 Orat. 20, in 
Basil. 61 Epist. 63, torn. ii. p. 843, D. 62 Can. 18, Concil. torn. i. col. 1500, B. 
63 Can. 1, Concil. torn. iv. col. 756, B. 64 See Dr. Bennjt's History of the joint Use of 
precomposed set Forms of Prayer, from chap. viii. to ch&i), xvi. 



16 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



the joint use of them obtained all over the Christian world. 
And therefore I shall take it for granted, that what has been 
already said is abundantly sufficient to prove, that the ancient 
Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, 
did join in the use of precomposed set forms of prayer. I 
shall now proceed to prove, 

2. Secondly, That (as far as we can conjecture) they never 
joined in any other. And first, that the ancient Jews, our 
Saviour, and his Apostles, never joined in any other than pre- 
composed set forms, before our Lord's resurrection, may very 
well be concluded, from our having no ground to think they 
ever did. For as he that refuses to believe a matter of fact, 
when it is attested by a competent number of unexceptionable 
witnesses, is always thought to act against the dictates of 
reason ; so does that person act no less against the dictates of 
reason, who believes a matter of fact without any ground. 
And what ground can any man believe a matter of fact upon, 
but the testimony of those, upon whose veracity and judg- 
ment in the case he may safely rely ? But what testimonies 
can our adversaries produce in this case ? They cannot pre- 
tend to any proof (either express or by consequence) within 
this compass of time, of the joint use of prayers conceived 
extempore, because there is not the lowest degree of evidence, 
or so much as a bare probability of it. And therefore they 
ought of necessity to conclude, that the ancient Jews, our 
Saviour, and his Apostles, never joined in any other prayers 
than precomposed set forms, before our Lord's resurrection. 
It only remains therefore that I show, that there is no reason 
to suppose that they ever joined in any others afterwards. 

And here as for our Saviour, we have no particular account 
of his praying between the time of his resurrection and that of 
his ascension ; and therefore we can determine nothing of his 
joining therein. But as for the Apostles and primitive Chris- 
tians, we may conclude, that they never joined in any other 
than precomposed set forms after our Lord's resurrection, by 
the same way of reasoning, as we concluded they never did 
before his resurrection. For unless our adversaries can bring 
sufficient authorities, to prove that they joined in the use of 
prayers conceived extempore, we may very reasonably con- 
clude they never did. 

I know indeed there are some objections, which our adversa- 
ries pick up from words of like sound, and, without considering 
the sense, or how the holy penmen used them, urge them for 



ctioh.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



17 



. arguments : but these my time will not permit me to ex- 
ne, nor is it indeed worth my while. I shall only desire it 

.y be considered, that nothing more betrays the badness of 

cause, than when groundless suppositions are so zealously 
opposed to evident truths. 65 

I shall however mention one thing, which is of itself a strong 
argument, that the Apostles and primitive Christians did never 
join in any other than precomposed set forms of prayer, viz. 
The difference between precomposed set forms of prayer, and 
prayers conceived extempore, is so very great ; and the alter- 
ation from the joint use of the one, to the joint use of the other, 
so very remarkable ; that it is utterly impossible to conceive, 
that if the joint use of extempore prayers had been ever prac- 
tised by the Apostles and first Christians, it could so soon have 
been laid aside by every Church in the Christian world ; and 
yet not the least notice to be taken, no opposition to be made, 
nor so much as a hint given, either of the time or reasons of 
its being discontinued, by any of the ancient writers whatso- 
ever: but that every nation, that has embraced the Christian 
faith, should, with a perfect harmony, without one single ex- 
ception, (as far as the most diligent search and information can 
reach.) from the Apostles' days to as low a period of time as 
our adversaries can desire, unite and agree in performing their 
joint worship by the use of precomposed set forms only. Cer- 
tainly such an unanimous practice of persons, at the greatest 
distance both of time and place, and not only different, but 
perfectly opposite in other points of religion, as well as their 
civil interests, is, as I said, a strong argument, that the joint 
use of precomposed set forms was fixed by the Apostles in all 
the churches they planted, and that, by the special providence 
of God, it has been preserved as remarkably as the Christian 
sacraments themselves. 

Much more might be added, but that I am satisfied, what has 
already been said is enough to convince any reasonable and un- 
prejudiced person; and to those that are obstinate and biassed 
it is in vain to say more. I shall therefore proceed to shew, 

II. Secondly, That those precomposed set forms of prayer, 
in which they joined, were such as the respective congregations 
were accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. And 
upon this I shall endeavour to be very brief, because a little 

65 For further satisfaction see Dr. Bennet's Discourse of the Gift of Prayer, and his 
History of the joint Use of precomposed set Forms of Prayer, chap, xviii. 



18 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [intro. 



reflection upon what has been said will effectually demons 
its truth. 

And, 1st, as to the practice of the ancient Jews, our Savior 
and his disciples, it cannot be doubted, but that they were ac 
customed to, and well acquainted with, those precomposed seo 
forms which are contained in the Scriptures : and as for their 
other additional prayers, the very same authors, from whom 
we derive our accounts of them, do unanimously agree in at- 
testing that they were of constant daily use ; and consequently 
the Jews, our Saviour, and his disciples, could not but be ac- 
customed to them, and thoroughly acquainted with them. 

The matter therefore is past all dispute till the Gospel-state 
commenced ; and even then also it is equally clear and plain. 
For it has been largely shewed, that the Apostles and primitive 
Christians did constantly use the Lord's prayer and psalms ; 
whereby they must necessarily become accustomed to them, 
and thoroughly acquainted with them. 

But then it is objected, that " their other prayers, which 
made up a great part of their divine service, were not stinted 
imposed forms, but such as the ministers themselves composed 
and made choice of for their own use in public." But this 
may likewise be answered with very little trouble ; because the 
same authorities, which prove that they were precomposed set 
forms, do also prove that the respective congregations were ac- 
customed to them, and thoroughly acquainted with them. 
For since the whole congregation did with one accord lift up 
their voice in an instant, and vocally join in that prayer which 
is recorded in the fourth chapter of the Acts ; since the public 
prayers, which the primitive Christians used in the first and 
second centuries, were called common prayers, constituted 
prayers, and solemn prayers ; since the Liturgy of St. James 
was of general use in the Church of Jerusalem within an hun- 
dred and sixty years after the apostolical age ; since the Church 
in Constan tine's time used authorized set forms of prayer; since 
the Council of Laodicea expressly provides, that " the same Li- 
turgy be constantly used both at the ninth hour, and in the 
evening ;" I say, since these things are true, we may appeal to 
our adversaries themselves, whether it was possible, in those 
and the like cases, for the respective congregations to be other- 
wise than accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with, those 
precomposed set forms of prayer, in which they joined. 

We own indeed, that, by reason of the ancient Christiana 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



19 



industriously concealing their mysteries, copies of their offices 
of joint devotion might not be common. And therefore (ex- 
cept the Lord's prayer, which the catechumens were taught 
before their baptism, and the psalms, which they read in their 
Bibles) none were acquainted with their joint devotions before 
they were baptized ; but were forced to learn them by con- 
stant attendance upon them, and by the assistance of their 
brethren. But the forms, notwithstanding, were well known 
to the main body of the congregation; and those very per- 'P 
sons, who at first were strangers to them, did, as well as 
others, by frequenting the public assemblies, attain to a per- 
fect knowledge of them ; because they were daily accustomed 
to them, and consequently, in a very short time, thoroughly 
acquainted with them : which was the second thing I was to 
prove. I come now in the last place to prove, 

III. Thirdly, That the practice of the ancient Jews, our 
Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, warrants 
the imposition of a national precomposed Liturgy : and this I 
shall make appear in the following manner. 

1. Their practice proves that a precomposed Liturgy was 
constantly imposed upon the laity. For that, without joining 
in which it was impossible for the laity to hold Church-com- 
munion, was certainly imposed upon the laity. Now their 
practice proves that it was impossible for the laity to hold 
communion with either the Jewish or Christian Church, un- 
less they joined in a precomposed Liturgy ; because the joint 
use of a precomposed Liturgy was their particular way of 
worship : and consequently as many of the laity as held com- 
munion with them must submit to that way of worship ; and 
as many as submitted to that way of worship had a precom- 
posed Liturgy imposed upon them. 

2. Their practice shews that a precomposed Liturgy was 
imposed on the clergy, i. e. the clergy were obliged to the use 
of a precomposed Liturgy in their public ministrations. For 
since the use of such a Liturgy was settled amongst them, it 
was undoubtedly expected from the respective clergy, that 
they should practise accordingly. For any one that is in the 
least versed in antiquity, must know how strict the Church- 
governors were in those times, and how severely they would 
animadvert upon such daring innovators, as should offer to set 
up their own fancies in opposition to a settled rule. So that 
it is no wonder, if in the first centuries we meet with no law to 

c 2 



20 



THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 



establish the use of Liturgies ; since those primitive patterns 
of obedience looked upon themselves to be as much obliged 
by the custom and practice of the Church, as they could be by 
the strictest law. But we find that afterwards, when the per- 
verseness and innovations of the clergy gave occasion, the 
governors of the Church did, by making canons on purpose, 
oblige the clergy to the use of precomposed Liturgies ; as 
may be seen in the eighteenth canon of the Council of Lao- 
dicea; which, as I have shewed, enjoined, that "the same 
Liturgy should be used both at the ninth hour, and in the 
evening : " which is as plain an imposition of a precomposed 
Liturgy, as ever was or can be made. Thus also the second 
council of Mela enjoins, 66 that " such prayers should be used 
by all, as were approved of in the Council, and that none 
should be said in the church, but such as had been approved 
of by the more prudent sort of persons in a synod :" which is 
another as plain imposition of a precomposed Liturgy as words 
can express, even upon the clergy. 

But though neither clergy nor laity had been thus obliged, 
yet one would think that the practice of all the ancient Jews, 
our blessed Saviour himself, his Apostles, and the whole 
Christian world, for almost fifteen hundred years together, 
should be a sufficient precedent for us to follow still. "We may 
be sure, that had they not known the joint use of Liturgies to 
have been the best way of worshipping God, they would 
never have practised it : but since they did practise it, we 
ought in modesty to allow their concurrent judgments to be 
too great to be withstood by any person or society of men ; 
and consequently that their practice warrants the imposition 
of a precomposed Liturgy. 

And if of a precomposed Liturgy, it does for the same 
reason warrant the imposition of a national precomposed Li- 
turgy : for it appears, from what has been said upon my second 
head, that the precomposed Liturgies of both Jews and Chris- 
tians were such as the respective congregations were ac- 
customed to, and thoroughly acquainted with ; and therefore 
their practice warrants the imposition of such a precomposed 
Liturgy, and consequently of a national precomposed Liturgy. 
For upon supposition that it is expedient for the congregations 
to be accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with, the 
Liturgies which they join in the use of; it is plain that a 

66 As before quoted in notes 59 , C2 , p. 15. 



introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 



21 



whole nation may as well have the same Liturgy, as each con- 
gregation may have a distinct one. And the clergy of a whole 
nation may as well resolve in a synod, or require by a canon 
made to that purpose, that the same Liturgy shall be used in 
every part of the nation, as leave it to the liberty of every 
particular bishop or minister to choose one for his own diocese 
or congregation. Nor is such an imposition of a national pre- 
composed Liturgy any greater grievance to the laity, than if 
each pastor imposed his own precomposed Liturgy or prayer 
Conceived extempore on his respective flock ; because every 
precomposed Liturgy or extempore prayer is as much imposed, 
and lays as great a restraint upon the laity, as the impositiori 
of a national Liturgy. Nor, again, is the synod's imposing a 
national Liturgy any grievance to the clergy ; since it is done 
either by their proper governors alone, or else (especially ac- 
cording to our English constitution) by their proper govern- 
ors, joined with their own representatives. So that such im- 
position, being either what they are bound to comply with in 
point of obedience, or else an act of their own choice, cannot 
for that reason be any hardship upon them. 

Since therefore (to draw to a conclusion) this imposition of 
a national precomposed Liturgy is warranted by the constant 
practice of all the ancient Jews, our Saviour himself, his 
Apostles, and the primitive Christians ; and since it is a griev- 
ance to neither clergy nor laity, but appears quite, on the 
other hand, as well from their concurrent testimonies, as by 
our own experience, to be so highly expedient, as that there 
can be no decent or uniform performance of God's worship 
without it ; our adversaries themselves must allow it to be 
necessary. 

And if so, they can no longer justify their separation from 
the Church of England, upon account of its imposing The 
Book of Common Prayer, &c. as a national precomposed 
Liturgy ; unless they can shew, that though national precom- 
posed Liturgies in general may be lawful ; yet there are some 
things prescribed in that of the Church of England, which 
render it unlawful to be complied with : which that they can- 
not do, is, I hope, (though only occasionally, yet) sufficiently 
shewn in the following illustration of it. Prom which I shall 
now detain the reader no longer than to give him some small 
account of the original of The Book of Common Prayer, and 
of those alterations which were afterwards made in it, before 



22 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[appendix to 



it was brought to that perfection in which we now have it. 
And this I choose to do here, because I know not where more 
properly to insert such an account. 



An Appendix to the Introductory Discourse, concerning the 
Original of the Book of Common Prayer, and the several 
Alterations which were afterwards made in it. 

How the Liturgy Before the Reformation, the Liturgy was only 
stood before the in Latin, being a collection of prayers made up 
Reformation. p ar tly of some ancient forms used in the primitive 
Church, and partly of some others of a later original, accom- 
modated to the superstitions which had by various means 
crept by degrees into the Church of Rome, and from thence 
derived to other Churches in communion with it ; like what 
we may see in the present Roman Breviary and Missal. And 
these being established by the laws of the land, and the canons 
of the Church, no other could publicly be made use of: so 
that those of the laity, who had not the advantage of a learned 
education, could not join with them, or be any otherwise edi- 
fied by them. And besides, they being mixed with addresses 
to the saints, adoration of the host, images, &c, a great part 
of the worship was in itself idolatrous and profane. 

But when the nation in king Henry VIII. "s 
inreiattar? to° ne ^ me was disposed to a reformation, it was thought 
Liturgical mat- necessary to correct and amend these offices : and 
ryTnLKiine! 1 " not onl y llave the service of the Church in the 
English or vulgar tongue, (that men might pray, 
not with the spirit only, but with the understanding also ,• 
and that he, who occupied the room of the unlearned, might 
understand that unto which he was to say Amen ; agree- 
able to the precept of St. Paul; 67 ) but also to abolish and 
take away all that was idolatrous and superstitious, in order to 
restore the service of the Church to its primitive purity. For 
it was not the design of our Reformers (nor indeed ought it 
to have been) to introduce a new form of worship into the 
Church, but to correct and amend the old one ; and to purge 
it from those gross corruptions which had gradually crept into 
it, and so to render the divine service more agreeable to the 
Scriptures, and to the doctrine and practice of the primitive 

67 l Cor. xiv. 15, 16. 



IKTKODL'CTIOX.] 



EOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



23 



Church in the best and purest ages of Christianity. In which 
reformation they proceeded gradually, according as they were 
able. 

And first, the Convocation 68 appointed a committee, A. D. 
1537, to compose a book, which was called, The godly and 
pious institution of a christen man ; containing a declara- 
tion of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Creed, the Ten 
Commandments, and the Seven Sacraments, b9 &c ; which book 
was again published A. D. 1540, and 1543, with corrections 
and alterations, under the title of A necessary doctrine and 
erudition for any christen man : and as it is expressed in 
that preface, was set fur the by the King, with the advyse of 
his Clergy ; the Lordes bothe spirituall and temporally with 
the nether house of Parliament, having both sene and lyhcd 
it very well. 

Also in the year 1540, a committee of bishops and divines 
was appointed by king Henry VIII. (at the petition of the 
Convocation) to reform the rituals and offices of the Church. 
And what was done by this committee for reforming the 
offices was reconsidered by the Convocation itself two or 
three years afterwards, viz. in February, 1542-3. And in the 
next year the king and his clergy ordered the prayers for 
processions, and litanies, to be put into English, and to be 
publicly used. And finally, in the year 1545, the king's 
Primer came forth, wherein were contained, amongst other 
things, the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Ten Commandments, Venite, 
Te Deum, and other hymns and collects in English; and 
several of them in the same version in which we now use 
them. And this is all that appears to have been done in re- 
lation to liturgical matters in the reign of king Henry VIII. 

In the year 1547, the first of king Edward 
VI., December the second, the Convocation 70 commonVrlyer 
declared the opinion, nullo reclamante, that the compiled in the 
Communion ought to be administered to all per- J^axd vi? 
sons under both kinds. Whereupon an Act of 
Parliament was made ordering the Communion to be so ad- 
ministered. And then a committee of bishops, and other 
learned divines, was appointed to compose an uniform order 
of Communion, according to the rules of Scripture, and the 
use of the primitive Church. In order to this, the com- 

6S For -what relates to the authority of the Convocation, in this and the two following 
paragraphs, see Bishop Atterbury'sRights of an English Convocation, 2nd edit., from 
p. 184 to p. 205. 63 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 52—54. 70 See 
Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 157, 158. 



24 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[APPENDIX to 



mittee repaired to Windsor Castle, and in that retirement, 
within a few days, drew up that form which is printed in 
bishop Sparrow's collection. 71 And this being immediately 
brought into use the next year, the same persons, being em- 
powered by a new commission, prepare themselves to enter 
upon a yet nobler work ; and in a few months' time finished 
the whole Liturgy, by drawing up public offices not only for 
Sundays and Holidays, but for Baptism, Confirmation, Matri- 
mony, Burial of the Dead, and other special occasions ; in 
which the forementioned Office for the Holy Communion 
was inserted, with many alterations and amendments. And 
the whole book being so framed, was set forth by the common 
agreement and full assent both of the Parliament and 
Convocations provincial ; i. e. the two Convocations of the 
provinces of Canterbury and York. 

The Committee appointed to compose this Liturgy were, 

1. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; who was 
the chief promoter of our excellent Reformation ; and had a 
principal hand, not only in compiling the Liturgy, but in all 
the steps made towards it. He died a martyr to the religion- 
of the Reformation, which principally by his means had been 
established in the Church of England ; being burnt at Oxford 
in the reign of queen Mary, March 21, 1556. 

2. Thomas Goodrich, bishop of Ely. 

3. Henry Holbech, alias Randes, bishop of Lincoln. 

4. George Day, bishop of Chichester. 

5. John Skip, bishop of Hereford. 

6. Thomas Thirlby, bishop of Westminster. 

7. Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, and afterwards 
of London. He was esteemed the ablest man of all that ad- 
vanced the Reformation, for piety, learning, and solidity of 
judgment. He died a martyr in queen Mary's reign, being 
burnt at Oxford, October 16, 1555. 

8. Dr. William May, dean of St. Paul's, London, and after- 
wards also master of Queen's College in Cambridge. 

9. Dr. John Taylor, dean, afterwards bishop of Lincoln. He 
was deprived in the beginning of queen Mary's reign, and 
died soon after. 

10. Dr. Simon Heynes, dean of Exeter. 

11. Dr. John Redmayne, master of Trinity College in 
Cambridge, and prebendary of Westminster. 

12. Dr. Richard Cox, dean of Christ Church in Oxford, 

« Page U. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



25 



almoner and privy-councillor to king Edward VI. He was 
deprived of all his preferments in queen Mary's reign, and 
fled to Frankfort ; from whence returning in the reign of 
queen Elizabeth, he was consecrated bishop of Ely. 

13. Mr. Thomas Robertson, archdeacon of Leicester. 

Thus was our excellent Liturgy compiled by And confirmedl 
martyrs and confessors, together with divers by Act of Par- 
other learned bishops and divines ; and being re- liament - 
vised and approved by the archbishops, bishops, and clergy 
of both the provinces of Canterbury and York, was then con- 
firmed by the king and the three estates in parliament, A. D. 
1548, 72 who gave it this just encomium, viz. which at this 
time BY THE AID OF THE HOLY GHOST, with 
uniform agreement is of them concluded, set forth, kc. 

But about the end of the year 1550, or the be- „ 

f, , - - , J , , But afterwards 

ginning ot 1551, some exceptions were taken at submitted to the 
some things in this book, which were thought to censui \ e °5 

. o in.. m ° cer and Martyr. 

savour too much of superstition. lo remove 
these objections, therefore, archbishop Cranmer proposed to 
review it; and to this end called in the assistance of Martin 
Bucer and Peter Martyr, two foreigners, whom he had invited 
over from the troubles in Germany ; who not understanding 
the English tongue, had Latin versions prepared for them : 
one Alesse, a Scotch divine, translating it on purpose for the 
use of Bucer ; and Martyr being furnished with the version of 
Sir John Cheke, who had also formerly translated it into La- 
tin. 73 What liberties this encouraged them to onwho , e 
take in their censures of the first Liturgy, and C ept?ons it was*" 
how far they were instrumental to the laying renewed and ai- 
aside several very primitive and venerable usages, 
I shall have properer opportunities of shewing hereafter, when 
I come to treat of the particulars in the body of the book. It 
will be sufficient here just to note the most considerable addi- 
tions and alterations that were then made : some of which 
must be allowed to be good ; as especially the addition of the 
sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution, at the 
beginning of the morning and evening services, which in the 
first Common Prayer Book began with the Lord's Prayer. 
The other changes were the removing of some rites and cere- 
monies retained in the former book ; such as the use of oil in 

72 Second and third of Edward VI. chap. i. 73 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop 
Cranmer, p. 210. 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[appendix t<\ 



hap/ism ; the unction of the sick ; prayers for sozds depart- 
ed, both in the Communion-office, and in that for the burial 
of the dead ; the leaving out the invocation of the Holy Ghost 
in the consecration of the Eucharist, and the prayer of obla- 
tion that was used to follow it ; the omitting the rubric, that 
ordered water to be mixed with wine, with several other less 
material variations. The habits also, that were prescribed by 
the former book, were ordered by this to be laid aside ; and, 
lastly, a rubric was added at the end of the Communion-office 
to explain the reason of kneeling at the Sacrament. The book 
And a am con- tnus rev ^ se( ^ an( ^ altered was again confirmed 
firmed by Act of in parliament A. D. 1551, who declared, that the 
Parliament. alterations that were made in it proceeded from 
Both which Acts curiosity rather than any worthy cause. But 

aMi e y. ealedby both this and the former acfc made in 1548, were 
repealed in the first year of queen Mary, as not 
being agreeable to the Romish superstition, which she was 
resolved to restore. 

But the second But u P on the accession of queen Elizabeth, 
book of k. Ed- the act of repeal was reversed ; and, in order to 
eltabiilhedTnthe the restoring of the English service, several learn - 
leth nof Q " EliZa " eC * °-* vnies were a PP°i nt ed to take another review 
of king Edward's Liturgies, and to frame from 
them both a book for the use of the Church of England. The 
names of those who, Mr. Camden 74 says, were employed, are 
these that follow : 

Dr. Matthew Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. 

Dr. Richard Cox, afterwards bishop of Ely. 

Dr. May. 
' Dr. Bill. 

Dr. James Pilkington, afterwards bishop of Durham. 
Sir Thomas Smith. 
Mr. David Whitehead. 

Mr. Edmund Grindall, afterwards bishop of London, and 
then archbishop of Canterbury. 

To these, Mr. Strype says, 75 were added Dr. Edwin Sandys, 
afterwards bishop of Worcester, and Mr. Edward Guest, a very 
learned man, who was afterwards archdeacon of Canterbury, 
almoner to the queen, and bishop of Rochester, and afterwards 
of* Salisbury. And this last person, Mr. Strype thinks, had 
the main care of the whole business ; being, as he supposes, re- 
commended by Parker to supply his absence. It was debated 

" 4 In his History of Q. Elizabeth. 75 Strype's Annals of Q. Elizabeth, p. 82, 83. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



27 



at first, which of the two books of king Edward should be re- 
ceived ; and secretary Cecil sent several queries to Guest, 
concerning the reception of some particulars in the first book ; 
as prayers for the dead, the prayer of consecration, the de- 
livery of the sacrament into the mouth of the communicant, kc.' & 
But however, the second book of king Edward was pitched 
upon as the book to be proposed to the parliament to be 
established, who accordingly passed and commanded it to be 
used, with one alteration or addition of certain lessons to 
he used on every Sunday in the year, and the form of the 
Litany altered and corrected, and two sentences added in 
the delivery of the sacrament to the communicants, and 
none other, or otherwise. 

The alteration in the Litany here mentioned was the leav- 
ing out a rough expression, viz. from the tyranny of the 
Bishop of Home, and all his detestable enormities, which 
was a part of the last deprecation in both the books of king 
Edward ; and the adding those words to the first petition for 
the queen, strengthen in the true worshipping of thee, in 
righteousness and holiness of life, which were not in before. 
The two sentences added in the delivery of the sacrament 
were these, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was 
given for thee ,■ or the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which was shed for thee ; preserve thy body and soul to 
everlasting life: which were taken out of king Edward's first 
book, and were the whole forms then used : whereas in the 
second book of that king, these sentences were left out, and 
in the room of them were used, take, eat, or drink this, with 
what follows ; but now in queen Elizabeth's book both these 
forms were united. 

Though, besides these here mentioned, there are some 
other variations in this book from the second of king Edward, 
viz. the first rubric, concerning the situation of the chancel 
and the proper place of reading divine service, was altered ; 
the habits enjoined by the first book of king Edward, and 
forbid by the second, were now restored. At the end of the 
Litany was added a prayer for the queen, and another for the 
clergy. And lastly, the rubric that was added at the end of 
the Communion-office, in the second book of king Edward 
VI., against the notion of our Lord's real and essential pre- 
sence in the holy Sacrament, was left out of this. For it 

76 Strype, ut supra. 



23 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[appendix to 



being the queen's design to unite the nation in one faith, it 
was therefore recommended to the divines to see that there 
should be no definition made against the aforesaid notion, but 
that it should remain as a speculative opinion not determined, 
in which every one was left to the freedom of his own mind. 

And some ai * n ^ s state tne Liturgy continued with- 

terations made in out any further alteration, till the first year of 
king Barnes 8 ? ° f king J ames !•> when, after the conference at 
Hampton Court, between that prince with arch- 
bishop Whitgift of Canterbury, and other bishops and divines, 
on the one side ; and Dr. Reynolds, with some other Puritans, 
on the other, there were some forms of thanksgiving added 
at the end of the Litany, and an addition made to the Cate- 
chism concerning the sacraments ; the Catechism before that 
time ending with the answer to that question which immedi- 
ately follows the Lord's prayer. And in the rubric in the 
beginning of the Office for private baptism, the words lawf ul 
minister were inserted, to prevent midwives or laymen from 
presuming to baptize, with one or two more small alterations. 

And the whole * n tn * s state continued to the time of 

book again re- king Charles II., who, immediately after his 
Resltoratfon 1 the restoration, at the request of several of the 
Presbyterian ministers, was willing to comply to 
another review, and therefore issued out a commission, dated 
March 25, 1661, to empower twelve of the bishops, and 
twelve of the Presbyterian divines, to consider of the objec- 
tions raised against the Liturgy, and to make such reasonable 
and necessary alterations as they should jointly agree upon: 
nine assistants on each side being added to supply the place 
of any of the twelve principals who should happen to be ab- 
sent. The names of them are as follow r : 



On the Episcoparian side. 
Principals. 

Dr. Fruen, archb. of York. 
Dr. Sh.eld.en, bp. of London. 
Dr. Cosin, bp. of Durham. 
Dr. Warner, bp. of Rochester. 
* Dr. King, bp. of Chichester. 



On the Presbyterian side. 
Principals. 

Dr. Reynolds, bp. of Norwich. 
Dr. Tuckney. 
Dr. Conant. 
Dr. Spurstow. 
Dr. Wallis. 



* I do not meet with this name either in the copy of the commission that was. 
printed in 1661, in the account of the proceedings of the Commissioners, or in that 
copy of it which Dr. Nichols has printed at the end of his preface to his hook upon 
the ;Common Prayer ; nor in that which Mr. Collier gives us in his Ecclesiastical 
History. But Mr. Baxter inserts it in the copy of the commission that he has printed 
a Vol. ii. p. 876. 



„NTKODUCTIOX.] 



BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



29 



On the Episcoparian side. 

Principals. 

Dr. Henchman, bp. of Sarum. 
Dr. Morley, bp. of Worcester. 
Dr. Sanderson, bp. of Lincoln. 
Dr. Laney, bp. of Peterborough. 
Dr. Walton, bp. of Chester. 
Dr. Stern, bp. of Carlisle. 
Dr. Gauden, bp. of Exeter. 

Coadjutors. 
Dr. Earles, dean of Westminster. 
Dr. Heylin. 
Dr. Hackett. 
Dr. Barwick. 
Dr. Gunning. 
Dr. Pearson. 
Dr. Pierce. 
Dr. Sparrow. 
Mr. Thorndike. 



On the Presbyterian side. 

Principals. 

Dr. Manton. 
Mr. Calamy. 
Mr. Baxter. 
Mr. Jackson. 
Mr. Case. 
Mr. Clark. 
Mr. Newcomen. 

Coadjutors. 
Dr. H or ton. 
Dr. Jacomb. 
Mr. Bates. 
Mr. Rawlinson. 
Mr. Cooper. 
Dr. Lightfoot. 
Dr. Collins. 
Dr. Woodbridge. 
Mr. Drake. 



These commissioners had several meetings at the Savoy, 
but all to very little purpose : the Presbyterians heaping to- 
gether all the old scruples that the Puritans had for above a 
hundred years been raising against the Liturgy, and, as if they 
were not enough, swelling the number of them with many 
new ones of their own. To these, one and all, they demand 
compliance on the Church side, and will hear of no contradic- 
tion even in the minutest circumstances. But the completest 
piece of assurance was the behaviour of Baxter, who (though 
the king's commission gave them no further power, than to 
compare the Common Prayer Book with the most ancient 
Liturgies that had been used in the Church, in the most 
primitive and purest times; requiring them to avoid, as much 
as possible, all unnecessary alterations of the Forms and Li- 
turgy wherewith the people were altogether acquainted, and 
had so long received in the Church of England ) would not so 
much as allow that our Liturgy was capable of amendment, but 
confidently pretended to compose a new one of his own ; and, 
without any regard to any other Liturgy whatsoever, either 
modern or ancient, amassed together a dull, tedious, crude, 

in the narrative of his own life, 6 and Dr. Nichols mentions him in his introduction to 
his Defence of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England : and there are 
not twelve principal Commissioners on the Church side without him : and therefore I 
suppose he was left out of the copy of the commission in 1661, by the printer's mistake, 
and that from thence Dr. Nichols and Mr. Collier might continue the omission. 
I Page 303. 



30 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[appendix to 



and indigested heap of stuff ; which, together with the rest 
of the commissioners on the Presbyterian side, he had the 
insolence to offer to the bishops, to be received and estab- 
lished in the room of the Liturgy. Such usage as this, we 
may reasonably think, must draw the disdain and contempt 
of all that were concerned for the Church. So that the con- 
ference broke up, without any thing done, except that some 
particular alterations were proposed by the episcopal divines, 
which, the May following, were considered and agreed to by 
the whole Clergy in Convocation. The principal of them 
were, that several lessons in the calendar were changed for 
others more proper for the days ; the prayers upon particu- 
lar occasions were disjoined from the Litany, and the two 
prayers to be used in the Ember-weeks, the prayer for the 
Parliament, that for all conditions of men, and the general 
thanksgiving, were added : several of the collects were al- 
tered, the Epistles and Gospels were taken out of the last 
translation of the Bible, being read before according to the 
old translation : the office for baptism of those of riper 
years, and the forms of prayer to be used at sea, were 
added. 77 In a word, the whole Liturgy was then brought to 
that state in which it now stands ; and was unanimously sub- 
scribed by both houses of Convocation, of both provinces, on 
Friday, the 20th of December, 1661. And being brought to 
the house of lords the March following, both houses very 
readily passed an act for its establishment ; and the earl of 
Clarendon, then high chancellor of England, was ordered to 
return the thanks of the lords to the bishops and clergy of 
both provinces, for the great care and industry shewn in the 
review of it. 

™ . r Thus have I given a brief historical account 

" he compiling © -r-»i on 

of our Liturgy, of the first compiling the 13ook ot Common 
etcieslastkar Pra y er > and of the several reviews that were 
and not a civil afterwards taken of it by our bishops and Con- 
power * vocations : one end of which was, that so " who- 

soever will may easily see (as bishop Sparrow shews on a like 
occasion 78 ) the notorious slander which some of the Roman per- 
suasion have endeavoured to cast upon our Church, viz. That 
her reformation hath been altogether lay and parliamentary." 
For it appears by the proceedings observed in the reforma- 



77 For a more particular account of what was done in this review, see the Preface to the 
Common Prayer Book. ™ Preface to his collection of Articles, &c, towards the end. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



31 



tion of the service of the Church, that this reformation was 
regularly made by the bishops and clergy in their provincial 
synods ; the king and parliament only establishing by the 
civil sanction what was there done by ecclesiastical authority . 
" It was indeed (as my lord bishop of Sarum has excellently 
well observed 79 ) confirmed by the authority of parliament, 
and there was good reason to desire that, to give it the force 
of a law ; but the authority of [the book and] those changes 
is wholly to be derived from the Convocation, who only con- 
sulted about them and made them. And the parliament did 
take that care in the enacting them, that might shew they did 
only add the force of a law to them : for in passing them it 
was ordered, that the Book of Common Prayer and Ordina- 
tion should only be read over, (and even that was carried 
upon some debate ; for many, as I have been told, moved 
that the book should be added to the act, as it was sent to 
the parliament from the Convocation, without ever reading 
it ; but that seemed indecent and too implicit to others,) and 
there was no change made in a tittle by parliament. So that 
they only enacted by a law what the Convocation had done." 
And therefore, as his lordship says in another place, 80 " As it 
were a great scandal on the first general councils to say, that 
they had no authority for what they did, but what they de- 
rived from the civil power ; so is it no less unjust to say, 
because the parliament empowered (I suppose his lordship 
means approved) some persons to draw up forms for the 
more pure administration of the sacraments, and enacted that 
these only should be lawfully used in this realm, which is the 
civil sanction ; that therefore these persons had no other 
authority for what they did. Was it ever heard of that the 
civil sanction, which only makes any constitution to have the 
force of a law, gives it any other authority than a civil one ? 
The prelates and other divines, that compiled [these forms], 
did it by virtue of the authority they had from Christ, as 
pastors of his Church ; which did empower them to teach the 
people the pure word of God, and to administer the sacra- 
ments, and to perform all holy functions, according to the 
Scripture, the practice of the primitive Church, and the rules 
of expediency and reason ; and this they ought to have done, 
though the civil power had opposed it : in which case their 
duty had been to have submitted to whatever severities and 

79 Vindication of Ordinations of the Church of England, p. 53, 54. 80 P. 74, 75. 



32 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[APPENDIX to 



persecutions they might have been put to for the name of 
Christ, or the truth of his gospel. But on the other hand, 
when it pleased God to turn the hearts of those which had 
the chief power, to set forward this good work; then they 
did, as they ought, with all thankfulness acknowledge so 
great a blessing, and accept and improve the authority of the 
civil power, for adding the sanction of a law to the reforma- 
tion, in all the parts and branches of it. So by the authority 
they derived from Christ, and the warrant they had by the 
Scripture and the primitive Church, these prelates and di- 
vines made those alterations and changes in the ordinal ; 
and the king and the parliament, who are vested with the 
supreme legislative power, added their authority to them, to 
make them obligatory on the subjects." These excellent 
words of this right reverend prelate are a full and complete 
answer to the Romanists' cavil of the lay original of our 
Liturgy. And I cannot but wonder, that others, who have 
wrote exceeding well on the Common Prayer Book, have not 
been careful to obviate this objection ; but have indeed rather 
given occasion for it, by intimating as if the Book of Common 
Prayer had been compiled by some persons only by virtue 
and authority of the king's commission : whereas it was in- 
deed a committee of the two houses of Convocation, and the 
book was revised and authorized by the whole synod, and in 
a synodical way, before it received the civil sanction from 
the king' and parliament. 

And for this reason I have given a true account of this 
matter, that others who are led away by Erastian principles, 
and think that the civil magistrate only has authority in mat- 
ters of religion, may be convinced that this is not agreeable 
to the doctrine of our Church ; who declares in her twentieth 
article, that the Church (that is, the ecclesiastical governors, 
the bishops and their presbyters ; for there may be a Church 
where there is no Christian civil magistrate) hath power to 
decree rites and ceremonies and authority in matters of 
faith: and affirms again in the thirty-seventh article, that 
where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief govern- 
ment, we give not to our Princes the ministering either of 
God's word, or of the Sacraments ; hut that only preroga- 
tive, which we see to have been given always to all godly 
Princes in holy Scinpturc by God himself ; that is, that 
they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their 



INTRODUCTION.] 



BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



33 



charge by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal, 
and restrain with the CIVIL sword the stubborn and evil 
doers. Our Liturgy was therefore first established by the 
Convocations or provincial Synods of the realm, and thereby 
became obligatory in foro conscientice ; and was then con- 
firmed and ratified by the supreme magistrate in parliament, 
and so also became obligatory in foro civili. It has therefore 
all authority both ecclesiastical and civil. As it is established 
by ecclesiastical authority, those who separate themselves 
and set up another form of worship are schismatics ; and 
consequently are guilty of a damnable sin, which no tolera- 
tion granted by the civil magistrate can authorize or justify. 
But as it is settled by act of parliament, the separating from 
it is only an offence against the state ; and as such may be 
pardoned by the state. The act of toleration therefore (as it 
is called) has freed the Dissenters from being offenders 
against the state, notwithstanding their separation from the 
worship prescribed by the Liturgy : but it by no means ex- 
cuses or can excuse them from the schism they have made 
in the Church ; they are still guilty of that sin, and will be so 
as long as they separate, notwithstanding any temporal au- 
thority to indemnify them. 

And here I designed to have put an end to the Introduc- 
tion ; but having in the first part of it vindicated the use of 
Liturgies in general, and in this Appendix given an historical 
account of our own ; I think I cannot more properly conclude 
the whole than with Dr. Comber's excellent and just en- 
comium of the latter ; by which the reader will, I doubt not, 
be very well entertained, and perhaps be rendered more in- 
ouisitive after those excellencies and beauties which are here 
mentioned, and which it is one chief design of the following 
treatise to shew. In hopes of this, therefore, I shall here 
transcribe the very words of the reverend and learned author. 

"Though all churches in the world," saith 
he, 51 " have, and ever had forms of prayer; yet A ^ Liturgy. 1 
none was ever blessed with so comprehensive, 
so exact, and so inoffensive a composure as ours : which is 
so judiciously contrived, that the wisest may exercise at once 
their knowledge and devotion; and yet so plain, that the 
most ignorant may pray with understanding : so full, that 
nothing is omitted which is fit to be asked in public ; and so 

81 Dr. Comber's preface, p. 4, of the folio edition. 



34 



OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE 



[appekdix to 



particular, that it compriseth most things which we would ask 
in private ; and yet so short, as not to tire any that hath true 
devotion :. its doctrine is pure and primitive ; its ceremonies 
so few and innocent, that most of the Christian world agree in 
them : its method is exact and natural ; its language signifi- 
cant and perspicuous; most of the words and phrases being 
taken out of the holy Scriptures, and the rest are the expres- 
sions of the first and purest ages ; so that whoever takes ex- 
ception at these must quarrel with the language of the Holy 
Ghost, and fall out with the Church in her greatest innocence ; 
and in the opinion of the most impartial and excellent 
Grotius, (who was no member of, nor had any obligation to, 
this Church,) the English Liturgy comes so near to the 
primitive pattern, that none of the Reformed Churches can 
compare with it. 82 

" And if any thing external be needful to recommend that 
which is so glorious within ; we may add that the compilers 
were [most of them] men of great piety and learning ; [and 
several of them] either martyrs or confessors upon the resti- 
tution of Popery ; which as it declares their piety, so doth the 
judicious digesting of these prayers evidence their learning. 
For therein a scholar may discern close logic, pleasing rheto- 
ric, pure divinity, and the very marrow of the ancient doc- 
trine and discipline ; and yet all made so familiar, that the 
unlearned may safely say Amen. 83 

" Lastly, all these excellencies have obtained that universal 
reputation which these prayers enjoy in all the world : so that 
they are most deservedly admired by the Eastern Churches, 
and had in great esteem by the most eminent Protestants be- 
yond sea, 84 who are the most impartial judges that can be de- 
sired. In short, this Liturgy is honoured by all but the Ro- 
manist, whose interest it opposeth, and the Dissenters, whose 
prejudices will not let them see its lustre. Whence it is that 
they call that, which the Papists hate because it is Protestant, 
superstitious and popish. But when we consider that the 
best things in a bad world have the most enemies, as it doth 
not lessen its worth, so it must not abate our esteem, because 
it hath malicious and misguided adversaries. 

"How endless it is to dispute with these, the little success 
of the best arguments, managed by the wisest men, do too 
sadly testify : wherefore we shall endeavour to convince the 

62 Grotius Ep. ad Boet. 63 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 34 See Durel's Defence of the Liturgy. 



iktrodttctiox.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 



35 



enemies, by assisting the' friends of our Church devotions : 
and by drawing the veil which the ignorance and indevotion 
of some, and the passion and prejudice of others, have cast 
over them, represent the Liturgy in its true and native lustre : 
which is so lovely and ravishing, that, like the purest beauties, 
it needs no supplement of art and dressing, but conquers by 
its own attractions, and wins the affections of all but those who 
do not see it clearly. This will be sufficient to shew, that 
whoever desires no more than to worship God with zeal and 
knowledge, spirit and truth, purity and sincerity, may do it 
by these devout forms. And to this end may the God of 
peace give us all meek hearts, quiet spirits, and devout affec- 
tions ; and free us from all sloth and prejudice, that we may 
have full churches, frequent prayers, and fervent charity; 
that uniting in our prayers here, we may all join in his praises 
hereafter, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 

THE END OF THE INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 



1 CHAPTER I. 

' OF THE 

TABLES, RULES, AND CALENDAR. 



PART I. 

OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rule for finding Easter. 

The proper Lessons and Psalms being spoken to at large 
in other parts of this treatise, there is no need to say any thing 
particularly concerning the Tables that appoint them. I shall 
therefore pass them bv, and begin with the Rule 
for finding Easter; which stands thus in all Ru 1 |2f e *f ding 
Books of Common Prayer printed in or since the 
year 1752 : Easter-day is always the first Sunday after the 
full Moon, rchich happens upon or next after the twenty - 

1 In this edition, after the example of all others published since the rear 1752, this 
chapter is printed -with the alterations necessary to adapt it to the new Calendar, Ta- 
bles, and Rules, -which were ordered to be prefixed to all future editions of the Book 
of Common Prayer, by the Act 24 Geo. II., entitled, An Act for regulating the com- 
mencement of the year ; and for correcting the calendar. 

D 2 



36 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



first day of March ; and if the full Moon happens upon 

Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday after. 

upon what occa- §• 2 - To she . w upon what occasion the rule 

sion this rule was framed, it is to be observed, that in the first 

was framed. a g eg Q £ Christianity there arose a great difference 

between the churches of Asia and other churches, about the 

day whereon Easter ought to be celebrated. 

Easter differently The churches of Asia kept their Easter upon 

observed by dif- the same day on which the Jews celebrated their 

ferent churches. p assoverj viz> upon the fourteenth day of their . 

first month Nisan (which month began at the new moon next 
to the vernal 2 equinox) ; and this they did upon what day of 
the week soever it fell ; and were from thence called Quarto- 
. decimans, or such as kept Easter upon the fourteenth day 
after the Qcmtiq, or appearance of the moon : whereas the other 
churches, especially those of the West, did not follow this 
custom, but kept their Easter on the Sunday following the 
Jewish passover ; partly the more to honour the day, and partly 
to distinguish between Jews and Christians. Both sides plead- 
ed apostolical tradition : these latter pretending to derive their 
practice from St. Peter and St. Paul ; whilst the others, viz. 
the Asiatics, said they imitated the example of St. John. 3 

This difference for a considerable time con- 

every whe^ob- tinued with a & reat deal of Christian charity and 
served on the forbearance ; but at length became the occasion 
coundf office! 0T> great bustles in the Church ; which grew to 
such a height at last, that Constantine thought it 
time to use his interest and authority to allay the heat of the 
opposite parties, and to bring them to a uniformity of practice. 
To which end he got a canon to be passed in the great general 
Council of Nice, " That every where the great feast of Easter 
should be observed upon one and the same day ; and that not 
on the day of the Jewish passover, but, as had been generally 
observed, upon the Sunday afterwards." And 4 that this dis- 
pute might never arise again, these paschal canons were then 
also established, viz. 

m „ , 1. " That the twenty-first day of March shall 

The Paschal , , , -\ . J 

canons passed in be accounted the vernal equinox. 
Nice C ° UnCil ° f 2 " " Tnat tne foil nioon happening upon or 
next after the twenty-first day of March, shall be 
taken for the full moon of Nisan. 

3 Josephus, Antiq. Judaic, lib. 3. cap. 10. 3 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 5, c. 23, 24, p. 193 
&c. Vide et 1. 4, c. 14. 4 Eusebius in Vita Constant. 1. 3, c. 18. 



PART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



S7 



3. " That the Lord's day next following that full moon be 
Easter-day. 

4. " But if the full moon happen upon a Sunday, Easter- 
day shall be the Sunday after." 

§. 3. Agreeable to these is the Rule for find- The moons to be 
ing Easter, which we are now discoursing of. But found out by the 
here we must observe, that the Eathers of the Golden Number - 
next century ordered the new and full moons to be found out 
by the cycle of the moon, consisting of nineteen years, invent- 
ed by Meton the Athenian, 5 and from its great usefulness in 
ascertaining the moon's age, as it was thought for ever, was 
called the Golden Number ; and was for some time usually 
written in letters of gold. By this cycle, I say, the Fathers 
of the next century ordered the moon's age to be found out ; 
which they thought a certain way, since at the end of nine- 
teen years the moon returns to have her changes on the same 
day of the solar year and month, whereon they happened nine 
teen years before. Eor which reason the cycle was some time 
afterwards placed in the calendar, in the first column of every 
month, in such manner as that every number of the cycle 
should stand against those days in each month, on which the 
new moons should happen in that year of the cycle. But 
now it is to be noted, that though at the end of every nine- 
teen years the moon changes on the very same days of the 
solar months, on which it changed nineteen years before ; yet 
the change happens about an hour and half sooner every nine- 
teen years than in the former ; which, in the time that the 
Golden Number stood in the calendar, had made an alter- 
ation of about five days. 

§. 4. By this means it happened that Easter Easter was kept 
was kept sometimes sooner and sometimes later sometimes sooner 
than the rule seemed to direct, and the Eathers Ser than™? 
of the Nicene Council intended. Eor it is very 5Jj| c | eemst0 
manifest that they designed that the first full ire ° ' 
moon after the vernal equinox should be the paschal full 
moon : (for otherwise they knew that the resurrection of our 
blessed Lord could not be commemorated at the time it 
happened :) but then, for want of better skill in astronomy in 
those times, they confined the equinox to the twenty-first of 
March ; whereas it hath since been discovered not only that 
the moon's cycle of nineteen years complete was too long, but 
also that the Julian solar year, which they reckoned by, ex 

6 Blondel's Roman Calendar, part I. lib. 2, c. 5. 



38 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap, r, 



ceeds the true solar one by about eleven minutes every year ; 
which had brought the equinoxes forward eleven or twelve 
days from the time of the Nicene Council. Hence it must 
often have happened, that the first full moon after the twenty- 
first of March hath been different from the first full moon 
after the vernal equinox ; and that they who have observed 
Easter according to the letter of the Nicene canons, and the 
rule for finding the paschal full moon by the Golden Number 
as placed soon after in the calendar, have not always observed 
it according to the intent of those Fathers. But yet as soon 
as ever the canons were passed, the whole catholic Church 
was very strict in adhering to them ; and so tender of the au- 
thority of them, that about two hundred years after the 
Nicene Council this following table was drawn up by Diony- 
sius Exiguus, a Roman ; wherein are ex- 
pressed all those days on which the first 
full moons after the twenty-first of March 
happen in all the nineteen years of the lunar 
cycle : which was so well approved of, that, 
by the Council of Chalcedon holden a little 
after, it was agreed that the Sunday next 
following the Paschal Limits answering the 
Golden Numbers, as they are expressed in 
this table, should be Easter-day ; and that 
whosoever celebrated Easter on any other 
day should be accounted an heretic. 

According to this table was Easter ob- 
served from the year of Christ 534, or 
thereabouts, till the year 1582 : at which 
time pope Gregory XIII. reformed the 
calendar, and brought back the vernal 
equinox to the twenty-first of March. So 
that the Roman Church keeping their Easter 
from that time on the first Sunday after the 
first full moon next after the twenty-first of 
March, observed it exactly according to the use of the primi- 
tive Church. And in the year 1752, the like reformation was 
made in our calendar, by ordering the third day of September 
in that year to be called the fourteenth, thereby suppressing 
eleven intermediate days, and bringing back the vernal 
equinox to the twenty-first of March, as it was at the time of 
the Nicene Council. 



The Paschal Limits 
answering the Gold- 
en Numbers, accord- 
ing to the Julian ac- 
count. 



Golden 


The Paschal 


Numb. 


Limits. 




April 5. 


2 


March 25. 


3 


April 13. 


4 


April 2. 


5 


March 22. 


6 


April 10. 


7 


March 30. 


8 


April 18. 


9 


April 7. 


10 


March 27. 


11 


April 15. 


12 


April 4. 


13 


March 24„ 


14 


April 12. 


15 


April 1. 




March 21. 


; i? 


April 9. 


18 


March 29. 


19 


April 17.' 



FART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND ItULES. 



39 



Sect. II. — Of the Tables for finding Eastei 

After the Rule for finding Easter is inserted an account 
when the rest of the movable feasts and holy-days begin ; 
and after that follow certain tables relating to the feasts and 
vigils that are to be observed in the Chw\ch of England, and 
other days of fasting or abstinence, with an account of certain 
solemn days for which particidar services are appointed. But 
these, and every thing relating to them, I shall have a more 
convenient opportunity to treat of hereafter ; and therefore 
shall pass on now to the Tables for finding Easter. 

When the N icene Council had settled the true ^ e ^jgjjop f 
time for keeping Easter in the method set down Alexandria was 
in the first section of this chapter, the bishop of Sgive Sice^f 
Alexandria (for the Egyptians at that time ex- Easter-day to 

n n • ,i i tip , \ other Churches. 

celled in the knowledge oi astronomy) was ap- 
pointed to give notice of Easter-day to the pope and other 
patriarchs, to be notified by them to the metropolitans, and by 
them again to all other bishops. 6 But this injunction could 
be but temporary : for length of time must needs make such 
alteration in the state of affairs, as must render any such 
method of notifying the time of Easter impracticable. And 
therefore this was observed no longer than till a Cycle or 
course of all the variations which might happen in regard to 
Easter-day might be settled. 

§. 2. Hereupon the computists applied them- 
selves to frame such a Cycle: and the vernal Cycl < S^ e ^ rfla 
equinox being fixed by the Council of Nice, and 
Easter-day by them also appointed to be always the first Sun- 
day after the first full moon next after the vernal equinox ; 
they had nothing to do, but to calculate all the revolutions of 
the moon and of the days of the week, and inquire, whether, 
after a certain number of years, the new moons, and conse- 
quently the full moons, did not fall out, not only on the same 
days of the solar year, (for that they do after every nineteen 
years,) but also on the same days of the week on which they 
happened before, and in the same ordinary course. Because, 

I by calculating a table for such a number of years, they might 
find Easter for ever ; viz. by beginning again at the end of 
the last year, and going round as it were in a circle. 



6 See Pope Leo's Epistle to the Emperor Marcianus, Epist. 64. 



40 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap. z. 



And first a Cycle was framed at Rome for 
lne years. ° f S4 eighty -f our years, and generally received in* the 
Western Church; it being thought that in that 
space of time the changes of the moon would return to the 
same days both of the week and year in such manner as they 
had done before. 7 During the time that Easter was kept ac- 
cording to this Cycle, Britain was separated from the Roman 
empire, and the British churches for some time after that 
separation continued to keep their Easter by this table of 
eighty-four years. But soon after that separation, the Church 
of Rome and several others discovered great deficiencies in 
this account, and therefore left it for another, which was more 
perfect : not but that also had its defects, though it has been 
continued ever since in the Greek Church, and some others ; 
and till very lately in our own. 8 

The cvcie of 532 ^ ne Cycle I mean was drawn up about the 
years, or vktori- year 457, by Victorius or Victorinus, a native 
an period. Q £ Aquitain, an emm ent mathematician : who,, 
observing that the Cycle of the Sunday letter consisted of 
twenty-eight years, and consequently that the days of the 
week have a complete revolution, and begin and go on again 
every twenty-eight years, just in the same order that they did 
twenty-eight years before, and that the Cycle of the Moon re- 
turned to have her changes on the same days of the solar year 
and month, whereon they happened nineteen years before,, 
but not on the same days of the week: Victorius, I say, hav- 
ing observed this, and endeavouring to compose a Cycle,, 
which should contain all the changes of the days of the week, 
and of the moon also, (which was necessary to find Easter for 
ever ;) he multiplied these two Cycles of nineteen and twenty- 
eight together, and from thence composed his period of five 
hundred and thirty-two years, from him ever after called the- 
Victorian period. And in this time he supposed the new 
moons would fall out on the same days both of the month 
and week, on which they happened before, and in the same 
orderly course. So that this day (be it what day it will) is 

7 See the bishop of Worcester's Historical Account of Church-government, p. 67, and 
Bede Hist. 1. 5, c. 22, in fin. s This alteration of the Cycle to find Easter was the 
cause that the Britons, who kept to the old account, differed from the Romans in the 
time of celebrating this festival. For though both kept it on a Sunday, according to 
the rule of the Council of Nice ; yet they differed as to the particular Sunday. This 
upon the coming in of Augustin the monk, first archbishop of Canterbury, caused some- 
contests in this island, of which Bede gives a large account, [Hist. Eccl.'l. 3, c. 25, 1. 5, 
c. 22,] where it may be seen that the Britons never were Quartodecimans, as some- 
have imagined them to be. 



PARI I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



41 



the same day of the year, month, moon, and week, that it was 
five hundred and thirty-two years ago, or will be five hun- 
dred and thirty-two years hence ; i. e. if this calculation has 
no defect in it, as it was then thought to have none, or so 
little as would make no considerable variation. And when 
the first full moon after the vernal equinox, or March 21, hap- 
pens on the same day both of the month and week, as it did any 
year before ; Easter-day must also fall on the same day on 
which it happened that year : so that Easter, according to 
this computation, must go through all its variations in five 
hundred and thirty-two years ; forasmuch as the moon and 
the days of the week have all their variations in that space. 

§. 3. This calculation was thought to come This Cycle est ab- 
much nearer to the truth (as indeed it did) than lished by the 
the former table of eighty-four years : for which Church - 
reason it was generally followed in a little time. And the 
fourth Council of Orleans, A. D. 541, decreed, that 9 "the 
feast of Eastei should be celebrated every year according to 
the table of Victorius ; and that the day whereon it is to be 
celebrated every year should be declared by the bishop in the 
time of divine service on the feast of Epiphany." However 
in a little time it was thought more convenient 
to adapt these tables to the calendar, so that adapS™? 1 
every one, who had a book of the divine offices gg^^o"^ 116 , 
wherein this calendar was placed, might know 
the day whereon Easter should be kept, without any further 
information. 

But the whole table being of too great a T he occasion of 
length to be inserted into one book of divine the Golden 
offices, it was found more advisable to place the niMcai r Lette?s°* 

rolden Number, or Cycle of the moon, in the J^eSndar ™ 
first column of the calendar, and the Dominical 



Letters in another column ; in such manner that the Golden, 
Number should point out the new moons in every month : 
by which means it would be easy to find out the fourteenth 
day of the Easter moon, or the first full moon after the 
twenty-first day of March, and then, by the Dominical Letter 
following that day, to be assured of the day whereon Easter 
must be kept. 

§. 4. And from these two columns was drawn The table to fin(S 
up a Table to find Easter for ever ; that so at any Easter for ever , 

9 Can. I. Concil. torn. v. col. 381, E. 



42 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap. i. 



erroneous. New time, by only knowing the Golden Number and 
tables to find it the jj om i m c a i Letter, it might be seen at one 
view (without any trouble or computation) what 
day Easter would happen on in any year required. But that 
table being founded on this erroneous supposition, viz. that 
the Golden Numbers, as fixed in the calendar, would for ever 
shew the day of the new moon in every month, which they 
have long since failed to do, it is laid aside, and others sub- 
stituted in its place, whereby to find the paschal full moon 
and Easter-day till the year 1900 ; when the Golden Numbers 
must be shifted (according to the tables prepared for that 
purpose 10 ) to make them continue to answer the ends for 
which they stand in the tables and calendar. But it does not 
fall within our present design to consider tables which are 
calculated for so distant a time. 

Sect. III. — Of the Golden Number. 
I pass on now to the Table of movable feasts 
T Nu2e? n f or fifty-t™ years, where it may be expected I 
should speak of three things therein mentioned, 
viz. the Golden Number, the Epact, and the Dominical Letter,- 
and of these the first that offers itself is the Golden Number.- 
of this, therefore, in the first place. 

b whom in §• 2. And this, as we have already hinted, 

vented^andrrhy was invented long before our Saviour's nativity 
Numbe^&c 11 ^y Meton the Athenian, from whence it was 
styled the Metonic Cycle; till afterwards it 
changed its name, being either from its great usefulness in 
ascertaining the moon's age, or else from its being written in 
letters of gold, called the Golden Number,- though sometimes, 
for the first of these reasons, it is called the Cycle of the Moon. 

The occasion of §' ~ ^ e occas ^ on °^ tn * s Cycle was this : It 
it, anyhow™ ° having been observed that at the end of nineteen 
calends™* the y ears tne moon returned to have her changes on 
the same days of the solar year and month 
whereon they happened nineteen years before ; it was thought 
that by the use of a cycle, consisting of nineteen numbers, 
the time of the new moons every year might be found out, 
without the help of astronomical tables, after this manner : 
viz. they observed on what day of each calendar month the 
new moon fell in each year of the cycle, and to the said days 

i° See the four last tables in the Book of Common Prayer. 



PART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES 



43 



they set respectively the number of the said year. And after 
this method they went through all the nineteen years of the 
cycle, as may be seen in the calendar of most Common 
Prayer Books printed before the year 1752. 

§. 4. And by this method the new moon could naw . order- 
be found with accuracy enough at the time of ed to be left out 
theNicene Council, forasmuch as the Golden calendar - 
Number did then shew the day (i. e. the Nuchthemeron) upon 
which the new moon fell out. And hereupon is founded the 
rule of the Nicene Council for finding Easter, as has been al- 
ready shewed. But here it is to be observed, that the cycle 
of the moon is less than nineteen Julian years, by one hour, 
twenty-seven minutes, and almost thirty- 
two seconds : whence it comes to pass, that 
although the new moons fall again upon 
the same days as they did nineteen years 
before, yet they fall not on the same hour 
of the day, or Nuchthemeron, but one hour, 
twenty-seven minutes, and almost thirty- 
two seconds sooner. And this difference 
arising in about three hundred and twelve 
years to a whole day ; it must follow that 
the new moon, after every three hundred 
and twelve years, would fall a whole day (or 
Nuchthemeron) sooner. So that for this 
reason the new moons were found to fall 
about four days and a half sooner now 
than the Golden Numbers indicated. And 
though this might have been rectified for 
the present, by shifting the Golden Numbers 
to the days on which the astronomical new 
moons now happen ; yet it has been or- 
dered by the late Act for correcting the 
Calendar, that the column of Golden 
Numbers, as they were prefixed to the respective days of all 
the months in the calendar, shall be left out in all future 
editions of the Book of Common Prayer. And accordingly 
the Golden Numbers have now no place in the calendar but 
against the twenty-first of March and the eighteenth of 
April,* and some of the intermediate days, where they stand 

* The twenty -first of March and the eighteenth of April are properly the paschal limits, 
because the full moon by which Easter is governed must not fall before the former or 



The Paschal Limits 


answering the Gold- 


en Numbers, accord- 


ing to 


the new ac- 


count. 




Golden 


The Paschal 


Numb. 


Limits. 


1 


April 13. 


2 


April 2. 


3 


March 22. 


4 


April 10. 


5 


March 30. 


6 


April 18. 


7 


April 7. 


8 


March 27. 


9 


April 15. 


10 


April 4. 


11 


March 24: 


12 


April 12. 


13 


April 1 . 


14 


March 21. 


15 


April 9. 


16 


March 29. 


17 


April 17; 


18 


April 6. 


19 


March 26: 



44 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap. i. 



only as the paschal terms, (for a limited time, 11 ) shewing the 
days of the full moons, by which Easter is to be governed 
through all the several years of the moon's cycle ; as is ex- 
pressed in the table annexed. 

To find the §• 1 shall add no more on this head, than 

Golden Number to shew how we may find the Golden Number 
».f any year. f Qr an y y ear ^nd this is done bj adding one 12 
to the given year of Christ, and then dividing the sum by 
nineteen. If after the division nothing remains over, then 
the Golden Number is nineteen ; but if any number remains 
over, then the said remainder is the Golden Number for that 
year. For instance, I w r ould know the Golden Number for 
the year 1758, which by this method I find to be 11 ; for 
1758 and 1 (i. e. 1759) being divided by 19, there will re- 
main 11. And thus much for the cycle of the moon. 

Sect. IV.— Of the Epacts. 

The Lunar Year consists of twelve lunar 
hmvSmpS. months, i. e. of twelve months, consisting of 
about twenty-nine days and a half each. In 
which space of time the moon returns to her conjunction 
with the sun ; that is, from one new moon to the next new 
moon are very near twenty-nine days and a half. But, to 
avoid fractions, the computists allow thirty days to one moon, 
and twenty-nine to another : so that in twelve moons six are 
computed to have thirty days each, and the other six but 
twenty -nine days each. Thus beginning the year w r ith March, 
(for that was the ancient custom,) they allowed thirty days 
for the moon in March, and twenty-nine for that in April ; 
and thirty again for May, and twenty-nine for June, &c. 
according to the old verses : 

Impar luna pari, parfiet in impare mense; 
In quo completur mensi lunatio detur. 

For the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh months, 
which are called impares menses, or unequal months, have 
their moons according to computation of thirty days each, 
which are therefore called pares lunce, or equal moons ; but 

after the latter day : so that March the twenty-second is the earliest day, and April the 
twenty-fifth (which, if the eighteenth should he full moon and a Sunday, will he the 
Sunday following) the latest day upon which Easter can fall. And upon this is framed 
the Table of the movable feasts according to the several days that Easter can possibly, 
fall upon. 

11 Till the year 1899 inclusive. 12 The reason of adding one is, because the aera of 
Christ began in the second year of the cycle. 



PART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



45 



the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth months, 
which are called pares menses, or equal months, have their 
moons but twenty-nine days each, which are called impares 
hmce, or unequal moons. 

§. 2. Now these twelve months of thirty and 
twenty-nine days alternate, making up but three Th th° e C Epact. 0f 
hundred and fifty-four days in all ; the whole lunar 
year must consequently be eleven days shorter than the solar 
year, which consists of three hundred and sixty-five days. So 
that supposing the new moon to be on the first day of March 
in any year ; in the next year the new moon will happen 
eleven days before the first of March, viz. on February 
eighteen. Therefore, to know the age of the moon on the 
first of March that year, we add an Epact, i. e. an intercalar 
number of eleven days ; the lunar month being that year 
eleven days before the solar. Then again, at the end of the 
next year, the new moon will fall eleven days sooner than it 
did at the end of the foregoing year, viz. on February the 
seventh ; for which reason we add eleven days more for the 
Epact of the next year, which makes it twenty-two. The 
year after this the moon will again fall short of the time 
whereon it happened in the foregoing year eleven days more ; 
which being added to twenty-two, the Epact of the year past, 
the whole will make thirty-three, that is, one whole moon and 
three days over ; so that in that year we compute thirteen 
moons, viz. twelve common moons of thirty and twenty-nine 
days alternate, and an intercalar one of thirty days ; and take 
the odd three days for the Epact of the next year, and then 
proceed in the same manner again, by adding eleven at the 
end of every year : always observing, when the number rises 
above thirty, to add an intercalar moon to that year, and to 
retain the remaining number for the Epact of the next. 

§. 3. Thus have we nineteen Epacts, an- How the Epacts 
swering to the Golden Numbers, and following answer to the 
one another in course, by the adding of eleven G ° lden Number - 
days every year in the following manner; 11. 22. 33. 14. 25. 
36. 17. 28. 39. 20. 31. 12. 23. 34. 15. 26. 37. 18. 29. In 
which cycle of Epacts, as I have noted them in the numbers 
33. 36. 39. 31. 34. 37. the figures that have a dot or tittle 
over them are not put as belonging to the Epact ; but only 
denote that in those years there is an intercalar or thirteenth 



46 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap. i. 



A Table of Epacts. 





Old 




Numb 1 


Style. 


Style. 


1 


11 


o 


2 


22 


11 


3 


3 


22 


4 


14 


3 


5 


25 


14 


6 


6 


25 


T 


17 


g 


8 


28 


17 


9 


9 


28 


10 


20 


9 


11 


1 


20 


12 


12 


1 


13 


23 


12 


14 


4 


23 


15 


15 


4 


16 


26 


15 


17 


7 


26 


18 


18 


7 


19 


29 


18 



How to find the 
Epact. 



month of thirty days added to the year 
before ; but the Epacts for those years are 
3. 6. 9. 1. 4. 7. And after the Epact oi 
29, (which makes the last intercalar month,) 
the cycle begins again at 11. But this is so 
only in the Julian account ; for according to 
the new reckoning, though the years of the 
Golden Number agree, the Epacts are dif- 
ferent ; as may be seen by the adjoining 
table, in which both are exhibited in one 
view. 

§. 4. The readiest way to 
find the Julian Epact is by 
the Golden Number; for if 
the Golden Number be 3, or a number to 
be divided by 3, the Epact is the same. If 
it be any other number, as 4, 5, 7, or 8, 
consider how many numbers it is more than 
the last number to be divided by 3, and 
add so many times 1 1 to it, casting away 30 as often as there 
is occasion, and it gives the Epact. And the Julian Epact 
being known, it is easy from thence to find the Epact accord- 
ing to the New Style : namely, if the Julian Epact be greater 
than 11, subtract 11 from it; if less than 11, add 30 to it, 
and from that sum subtract 11, and the remainder will be the 
Epact required. Or in still fewer words, the difference of the 
Epacts of the Old Style from the New is equal to the number 
of days taken away from the Old. 

The use of the §• By the Epact we discover the true as- 
Epact to find the tronomical moons very near, i. e. within a day 
moons age. oyer Qr unc } erj w j 1 i c ] 1 ma y De sufficient for com- 
mon use, and no cycle can be found nearer. The method of 
doing which is this : if we would know how old the moon is 
on any day of a month, we must add unto that day the Epact, 
and as many days more as there are months from March to 
that month inclusive ; 14 which if it be less than 30, shews 
the moon's age ; if it be greater, subtract 30 from it, and the 
age of the moon remaineth ; i. e. whatever number remains 
after the whole has been divided by 30, so many days old is 

14 The reason of which is, because the Epact increaseth every year eleven days, 
which being almost one day for every month, therefore we add the number of the month 
from March inclusive. But this is to be understood only of the months that follow 
March, and not those that go before it. 



PART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



47 



the moon : if nothing remains, the moon changes that day. 
Thus for instance, if we would know what the age of the 
moon will be the second of November in the year 1758, we 
must inquire after this manner : the Epact for that year is 20 ; 
to 20 therefore we must add 2, the day of the month, and 
nine more, the number of the month inclusive from March ; 
which three numbers being added together, make up the 
number 31 ; from which if we subtract 30 (the moon having 
so many days in November, that being an unequal month) 
there will remain 1, which will appear to be the age of the 
moon on that day. 

§. 6. The reason why the Epacts shew the 
moon's age truer than the Golden Number did, Swth! boon's 
is because the Golden Number being affixed to age truer than 
the calendar could not be removed to other Number. 611 
days than those against which they stood, unless 
by public authority. But the Epacts not being so affixed, 
have been changed from time to time by the computists, as 
they saw occasion to make such alterations, in order to make 
their computations agreeable to the course of the moon in the 
heavens. For though in the space of nineteen years the 
moon returns to have her conjunction with the sun on the 
same days ; yet those conjunctions fall out about an hour and 
a half earlier in the succeeding nineteen years than they did 
in the foregoing ; which, as has been calculated, makes a whole 
day's difference in a little more than three hundred and twelve 
years. Therefore the computists have once in a little more 
than that time changed the old course of the Epacts, and 
substituted another in its room : to which cause it is owing 
that they still notify the new moons to us according to the 
real conjunction of the luminaries in the heavens, and have 
not failed us, as the Golden Numbers have done. 

Sect. V. — Of the Cycle of the Dominical Letters, commonly 
called the Cycle of the Sun. 

The Cycle of the Sun is very improperly so The Cycle of the 
called, since it relates not to the course of the Sun improperly 
Sun, but to the course of the Dominical or Sun- soca e ' 
day letter, and ought therefore to be called the Cycle of the 
Sunday Letter. 

§. 2. The use of the cycle arises from the 
custom of assigning in the calendar to each day The cycle! the 
of the week one of the first seven letters of the 



48 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[CHAP. 



alphabet : A being always affixed to January the first, what- 
ever day of the week it be ; B to January the second, C to 
January the third, and so in order, Gr to January the seventh. 
After which the same letters are repeated again : A being af- 
fixed to January the eighth, and so on. According to this 
method, there being fifty-two weeks in a year, the said letters 
are repeated fifty-two times in the calendar. And were there 
just fifty-two weeks, the letter G would belong to the last 
day of the year, as the letter A does to the first ; and conse- 
quently that letter which was at first constituted the Sunday 
letter (and the same is to be understood of the other days of 
the week) would always have been so ; and there would have 
been no change of the Sunday letter. But one year consist- 
ing of fifty-two weeks and an odd day over ; hence it comes to 
pass that the letter A belongs to the last, as well as to the first 
day of every year. For although every leap-year consists of 
three hundred and sixty-six days, i. e. of two days over fifty- 
two weeks, yet it is not usual to add a letter more, viz. B, at 
the end of the year ; but instead thereof to repeat the letter 
C, which stands against February the twenty-eighth, and 
affix it again to the intercalated day, February the twenty- 
ninth. 15 By which means the said seven letters of the alphabet 
remain affixed to the same days of a leap-year as of a com- 
mon year, through all the whole calendar both before and 
after. The letter A then thus always belonging to the last day 
of the old year, and first of the new, it thence comes to pass, 
that there is a change made as to the Sunday letter in a 
16 backward order; i. e. supposing G to be the Sunday letter 
one year, F will be so the next, and so on. 
a single change §' ^' Now were there but this single change, 
of tne°sunday Sunday would be denoted by each of the seven 
mon y^s^rSa ^ etters every seven years, and so the cycle of the 
double one in Sunday letter would consist of no more than 
leap-years. seven years. But now there being in every 
fourtn or leap-year two days above fifty-two weeks ; hence it 
comes to pass that there is every such year a double change 
made as to the Sunday letter. For as the odd single day 
above fifty-two weeks in a common year, makes the first 

15 In the common almanacks the letter F is set against the twenty-fourth and twenty- 
fifth, the twenty-fourth having been formerly accounted the intercalary day : but our 
Church at present seems to make the twenty-ninth of February the intercalated day, as 
shall be shewed hereafter, when I treat of the time of keeping St. Matthias's day. 

16 Bede expressed the retrograde order of the Dominical Letter in this verse: 

G randia F rendet E quus, D urn C emit B elliger A arma. 



?ART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



43 



A TABLE of the Cycle of 
the Sun. 



Sunday in January to shift from that which was the Sunday 
letter in the foregoing year, to the next letter to it in a back- 
ward order ; so a day being intercalated every leap-year at the 
end of February, and the letter C being affixed to the twenty- 
ninth, as well as to the twenty-eighth day of that month, does 
also make the first Sunday in March to shift from that which 
was the Sunday letter in February, to the next letter to it in 
a retrograde order. So that if in a leap-year F be the Sunday 
letter for January and February, E will be the Sunday letter 
for all the rest of the year, and D for the year following. By 
reason of which double change in every fourth m thg c ^ 
or leap-year, it comes to pass that the cycle of consists 6 of ° e 
the Sunday letter consists of four times seven * ~ eight 
years, i. e. it does not proceed in the same 
course it did before, till after twenty-eight years : but after 
that number of years, its course or 
order is the same as it was before. 

§.4. TO find OUt the H ow to find the 

Sunday letter for any year Dominical 
of the Julian cycle, we Letter - 
must do thus : to the year of our Lord 
we must add 9, (for the eera of Christ 
began in the tenth year of the cycle,) 
and then divide the sum by 28. If 
any of the dividend remains, the said 
remainder shews the year of the cycle 
sought; if nothing remains of the 
dividend, then it is the last or twenty- 
eighth year of the cycle. And the 
Dominical Letter according to the 
New Style is at present, and will be 
for some years to come, the third in 
a backward order of the letters from 
the Julian : 17 as may be seen by the 
annexed table of the Julian cycle of 
the Sun, and of the corresponding 
Sunday letters in the new account. 

For it is to be observed with respect 
to these two tables or cycles, that the 
former or Julian table would serve for 
ever : but that the latter will serve 





Julian 


Year of 


Domin. 


Year of 


Domi- 


Letters 


the 


nical 


Lord. 


New 


Cycle. 


Letters. 


Style. 


1 


G F 


1756 


D C 


2 


E 


1757 


B 


3 


D 


1758 


A 


4 


c 


1759 


G 


5 


B A 


1760 


F E 


6 


G 


1761 


D 


7 


F 


1762 


C 


8 


E 


1763 


B 


9 


D C 


1764 


A G 


10 


B 


1765 


F 


11 


A 


1766 


E 


12 


G 


1767 


D 


13 


F E 


1768 


C B 


14 


D 


1769 


A 


15 


c 


1770 


G 


16 


B 


1771 


F 


17 


a g; 


1772 


E D 


18 


F 


1773 


C 


19 


E 


1774 


B 


20 


D 


1775 


A 


21 


C B 


1776 


G F 


22 


A 


1777 


E 


23 


G 


1778 


D 


24 


F 


1779 


C 


25 


ED 


1780 


B A 


26 


C 


1781 


G 


27 


B 


1782 


F 


28 


A 


1783 


E 



17 Till the year 1800, when it will be the second. 



50 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[chap. t. 



only for the present century: 18 to explain the reason of this 
we must take notice again, that as the Julian solar year has 
been found to be too long by about three quarters of an hour 
in four years, or a whole day in about one hundred and thirty- 
three years, or three days in four hundred years ; it hath been 
contrived to suppress three days in every four hundred years ; 
which is ordered to be done by making only those hundredth 
years of our Lord, which may be divided into even hundreds 
by 4, to be bissextile or leap years ; and all other hundredth 
years which cannot be so divided, (which are also leap-years 
in the Julian account,) to be deemed common years. In con- 
sequence of which the year of our Lord 1800, not being- 
divisible into even hundreds by 4, will be a common year 
with only one Sunday letter ; and as the like will happen 
three times in every four hundred years, it will require a table 
of four hundred years to shew all the changes of the Dominical 
Letters that can happen according to the new account. 19 



A GENERAL TABLE, 





A G 


C B 


E D 


G F 


B A 


D C 


F E 




F.E.D. 


A.G.F. 


C. B.A. 


E.B. C. 


G.F.E. 


B.A.G. 


D. C.B. 




1584 


88 


92 


96 


















1600 


4 


8 




1612 


16 


20 


24 


28 


32 


36 


{ 


40 


44 


48 


52 


56 


60 


64 




68 
96 


72 


76 


80 


84 


88 


92 
















1704 




1708 


12 


16 


20 


24 


28 


32 


{ 


36 


40 


44 


48 


52 


56 


60 




64 


68 


72 


76 


80 


84 


88 




92 


96 














1804 


8 


12 


16 


20 


24 


28 




32 


36 


40 


44 


48 


52 


56 


'■{ 


60 


64 


68 


72 


76 


80 


84 




88 


92 


96 










r 




1904 


8 


12 


16 


20 


24 




28 


32 


36 


40 


44 


48 


52 


H 


56 


60 


64 


68 


72 


76 


SO 


I 


84 


88 


92 


96 


















2000 


4 


8 



Shewing, by inspec- 
tion, all the Domin- 
ical Letters that 
have been since the 
correction of the 
Julian Calendar by 
pope Gregory XIII., 
which took place 
from the ides of Oct. 
1582, or that can 
occur in any future 
times. 



13 See a rule to find the Sunday letter New Style, both for this century and the next, 
in the table for finding Easter-day till 1899. 19 The editors have been favoured -with 
a copy of such a table, drawn up by W. Rivet, of the Inner Temple, Esq., which they 
have printed, believing it will be acceptable to the reader. 



FART I.] 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



51 



By the Julian calendar the Dominical Letters for the year 
1580 were C B, for 1581 A, and for 1582 (the second year 
after bissextile) the letter G. Consequently as October in that 
year began on a Monday, the fourth of that month must be 
Thursday ; and the next natural day, which was reckoned the 
fifteenth (ten days being then dropped) was Friday ; the six- 
teenth nominal day of course was Saturday, and Sunday falling 
on the seventeenth, the Dominical Letter then changed to C : 
and from that day all subsequent Dominical Letters take their 
revolutions. 

On this plan the foregoing table was formed ; wherein ob- 
serve, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900, are not particularly ex- 
pressed, they being accounted as common years, that have 
but one Dominical Letter each; viz. c for 1700, e for 1800, 
and g for 1900. All the years expressed in the table are bis- 
sextile, or leap-years, and have two Dominical Letters placed 
at the head of their respective columns ; as for the years 1600, 
1628, 1656, and 1684, the Dominical Letters were B A, and 
so of the rest. 

The letters for the first, second, and third 3'ears after every 
bissextile, are the three single letters placed under the dou- 
ble letters, in the same column with the bissextile they imme- 
diately follow. For example, as the Dominical Letters for 
1600 were B A, so the Dominical Letter for 160-1 was g, for 
1602 f, and for 1603 e. So for 1796 the Dominical Letters 
will be C B; consequently 1797, 1798, and 1799, must have 
A, g, and f : and the letter for 1800 (which is to be account- 
ed a common year) will be e ; therefore 1801, 1802, and 1803, 
must have the subsequent letters d, c, and b ; and then 1804, 
being bissextile, will come under the letters A G : and from 
thence every fourth year will be leap-year to 1896 inclusive. 

The Dominical Letters of each century expressed in the ta- 
ble, will be the same again after a revolution of four hundred 
years ; wherefore, if you divide any given hundredth year by 
4, and nothing remains, it is a bissextile hundred ; and the 
whole century from thence will have the same letters through- 
out as the seventeenth century, beginning from 1600. If one 
remains, it will be governed by the eighteenth century ; if two, 
by the nineteenth ; and if three, by the twentieth century, 
beginning from 1900. 

EXAMPLES. 

If the Dominical Letter for 2484 be required, divide 24 by 
e 2 



52 



OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 



[CHAP. I, 



4, and nothing will remain ; therefore look in the seventeenth 
century for 1684, and you will find it under B A, which must 
be the Dominical Letters for the year required. 

So for the year 8562 : let 85 be divided by 4, and the re- 
mainder will be 1 ; wherefore the Dominical Letter may be 
found in the eighteenth century, being the same as for 1762, 
viz. c. 

If it be required to know the Dominical Letter for the year 
5400 ; divide 54 by 4, and the remainder will be 2, denoting 
it to be the second after a bissextile hundred, and consequent- 
ly the given year must have the same letter as the year 1800; 
from which the nineteenth century begins, viz. e, the fourth 
single letter after the bissextile year 1796. 

Lastly, if the Dominical Letter for 3503 be required ; as 
35 divided by 4 leaves 3, it will be the same with 1903, which 
will be found to be d by counting from 1896, the bissextile 
next preceding it ; as 1900 will be a common year. 

And since, after dividing the hundreds in any given year of 
our Lord by 4, there will remain either 0, 1,2, or 3, so any 
question of this kind will be resolved by finding in the table 
the Sunday Letter or Letters of the corresponding year in 
such of the four centuries, as is analogous to that of the ques- 
tion proposed. 



PAKT II. 
OF THE CALENDAR. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

I. Having said what I thought requisite in order to ex- 
plain the Tables and Rules before and after the Calendar, I 
The columns of shall now proceed to treat, in as little compass 
days of the as I can, of the Calendar itself. It consists of 
month and week. severa i co i umns . concerning the first of which, 
as it only shews the days of the month in their numerical 
order, I need say nothing; and of the second, which contains 
the letters of the alphabet affixed to the several days of every 
week, I have already said as much in the former part of this 
chapter as was necessary to shew the use and design of their 
being placed here. 



PART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR 



53 



II. The third column (as printed in the larger 
Common Prayer Books) has the Calends, T c h l c n °J™ of 
Nones, and Ides, which was the method of 
computation used by the old Romans and primitive Christians, 
instead of the days of the month, and is still useful to those 
who read either ecclesiastical or profane history. But this 
way of computation being now grown into disuse ; and this 
column being also omitted in most small editions of the 
Common Prayer Book, (though without authority,) there is 
no need that I should enter into the particulars of it. 

III. Neither is there occasion that I should 

say any thing here concerning the four last co- ^^f^ 118 of 
lumns of the calendar, which contain the Course 
of Lessons for morning and evening prayer for ordinary days 
throughout the year ; since the course of lessons both for 
ordinary days and Sundays, &c. will come under consider- 
ation in a more proper place hereafter. 

IV. So that nothing remains to be treated of 

here, but the Column of Holy -days ; and as T ^ ol c y °i u a y S n of 
many of these too as are observed by the Church 
of England, I shall speak to in the fifth chapter. But then 
as to the Popish Holy-days retained in our calendar, I shall 
have no fairer opportunity of treating of them than in this 
place. And therefore, since some small account of these 
has been desired by some persons, I shall here insert it, to 
gratify their curiosity. 

Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in general. 

The reasons why the names of these Saints-days 

nTT11 ^ t j The reasons wnv 

and Holy-days were resumed into the calendar the popish hoiy- 
are various. Some of them being retained upon f n a ^ s U r r c e a ^endar d 
account of our Courts of Justice, which usually 
make their returns on these days, or else upon the days be- 
fore or after them, which are called in the writs, Vigil. Fest. 
or Crast., as in Vigil. Martin,- Fest. Martin ; Crast. Martin ; 
and the like. Others are probably kept in the calendar for 
the sake of such tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and others, as 
are wont to celebrate the memory of their tutelar Saints ; as 
the Welshmen do of St. David, the Shoemakers of St. Cris- 
pin, &c. And again, churches being in several places dedi- 
cated to some or other of these Saints, it has been the usual 
custom in such places to have Wakes or Fairs kept upon 



54 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[CHAP. I 



those days ; so that the people would probably be displeased, 
if, either in this, or the former case, their favourite Sainfs 
name should be left out of the calendar. Besides, the his- 
tories which were writ before the Reformation do frequently 
speak of transactions happening upon such a holy-day, or 
about such a time, without mentioning the month ; relating 
one thing to be done at Lammas-tide, and another about 
Martinmas, &c, so that were these names quite left out of 
the calendar, we might be at a loss to know when several of 
these transactions happened. But for this and the foregoing 
reasons our second reformers under queen Elizabeth (though 
all those days had been omitted in both books of king Edward 
VI. excepting St. George's Day, Lammas Day, St. Laurence, 
and St. Clement, which were in his second book) thought 
convenient to restore the names of them to the calendar, 

though not with any regard of being kept holy 
But ho°iy kept b y the Church. For this they thought prudent 

to forbid, as well upon the account of the great 
inconveniency brought into the Church in the times of Popery, 
by the observation of such a number of holy-days, to the 
great prejudice of labouring and trading men ; as by reason 
that many of those Saints they then commemorated were 
oftentimes men of none of the best characters. Besides, the 
history of these Saints, and the accounts they gave of the 
other holy-days, were frequently found to be feigned and 
fabulous. Eor which reason, I suppose, the generality of my 
readers would excuse my giving them or myself any further 
trouble upon this head : but being sensible that there are 
some people who are particularly desirous of this sort of in- 
formation, I shall for their sakes subjoin a short account of 
every one of these holy-days as they lie in their order ; but 
must first bespeak my reader not to think that I endeavour 
to impose all these stories upon him as truths ; but to remem- 
ber that I have already given him warning that a great part 
of the account will be feigned and fabulous. And therefore 
I presume he will excuse my burdening him with testi- 
monies; since though I could bring testimonies for every 
thing I shall say, yet I cannot promise that they will be con- 
vincing. But, however, I promise to invent nothing of my 
own, nor to set down any thing but what some or other of the 
blind Romanists superstitiously believe. 



PAKT It.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



55 



Sect. I. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in January. 

Luoian (to whose memory the eighth day of January 8- 
this month was dedicated) is said by some to have Lucian, confess- 
been a disciple of St. Peter, and to have been orandmart >' r - 
sent by him with St. Dennys into France, where, for preach- 
ing the Gospel, he suffered martyrdom. Though others relate 
that he was a learned presbyter of Antioch, well versed in the 
Hebrew tongue, taking a great deal of pains in comparing and 
amending the copies of the Bible. Being long exercised in 
the sacred discipline, he was brought to the city of the Nico- 
medians, when the emperor Galerius Maximianus was there ; 
and having recited an apology for the Christian religion which 
he had composed, before the governor of the city, he was cast 
into prison ; and having endured incredible tortures, was put 
to death. 20 

§. 2. Hilary, bishop of Poictiers in France, 13 Hilary, 
(commemorated on the thirteenth of this month,) bishop and' con- 
was a great champion of the catholic doctrine fesSor * 
against the Arians ; for which he was persecuted by their par- 
ty, and banished into Phrygia about the year 356, where, 
after much pains taken in the controversy, and many troubles 
underwent, he died about the year 367. 

§. 3. Prisca, a Eoman lady, commemorated 18 Prisca Ro _ 
on the eighteenth, was early converted to Chris- man virgin and 
tianity ; but refusing to abjure her religion, and martyr - 
to offer sacrifices when she was commanded, was horribly tor- 
tured, and afterwards beheaded under the emperor Claudius, 
A.D. 47. 

§. 4. Fabian was bishop of Rome about four- 20 Fabian 
teen years, viz. from A. D. 239 to 253, and suf- bishop and'mar- 
fered martyrdom under the emperor Decius. tyr " 

§. 5. Agnes, a young Roman lady of a noble 2l AgneSi 
family, suffered martyrdom in the tenth general Roman virgin 
persecution under the emperor Diocletian, A. D. an martyr * 
306. She was by the wicked cruelty of the judge condemned 
to be debauched in a public stew before her execution ; but 
was miraculously preserved by lightning and thunder from 
heaven. She underwent her persecution with wonderful rea- 
diness, and though the executioner hacked and hewed her 
body most unmercifully with the sword, yet she bore it with 

w Euseb. Histor. Eccl. 1. ix. c. 6, p. 351, C. 



56 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[chap. i. 



incredible constancy, singing hymns all the time, though she 
was then no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. 

About eight days after her execution, her parents going to 
lament and pray at her tomb, where they continued watching 
all night, it is reported that there appeared unto them a vision 
of angels, arrayed with glittering and glorious garments; 
among whom they saw their own daughter appareled after the 
why painted same manner, and a lamb standing by her as 
with a lamb by white as snow ; (which is the reason why the 
her side. painters picture her with a lamb by her side.) 

Ever after which time the Boman ladies went every year (as 
they still do) to offer and present her on this day the two best 
and purest white lambs they could procure. These they offered 
at St. Agnes's altar, (as they call it,) and from thence the pope 
gives orders to have them put into the choicest pasture about 
the city, till the time of sheep-shearing come ; at which sea- 
son they are clipt, and the wool is hallowed, whereof a fine 
white cloth is spun and woven, and consecrated every year by 
The original tne P°P e himself, for the palls which he useth to 
of archbishops' send to every archbishop ; and which till they 
palls ' have purchased at a most extravagant price, they 

cannot exercise any metropolitical jurisdiction. 
22. Vincent a §• 6« Vincent, a deacon of the church in 
deacon of Spain Spain, was born at Oscard, now Huezza, a town 
and martyr. j n Arragon. He was instructed in divinity by 
Valerius, bishop of Saragossa ; but, by reason of an impedi- 
ment in his speech, never took upon him the office of preach- 
ing. He suffered martyrdom in the Diocletian persecution 
about the year 303, being laid all along upon burning coals, 
and, after his body was broiled there, thrown upon heaps of 
broken tiles. 

Sect. II. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in February. 

February 3. Blassius was bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, 

Biassius, bishop reported to have been a man of great miracles 
and martyr. aQ( j p 0wer> p ut to d ea th j n the same city by 

Agricolaus the president, under Diocletian the emperor, in 
the year 289. His name is not put down in some editions 
of the Common Prayer Book, but it occurs in the mos* 
authentic. 

5.Agatha,aSici- §• 2 - Agatha, a virgin honourably born in ' 
lian virgin and Sicily, suffered martyrdom under Decius the 
martyr * emperor at Catanea. Being very beautiful, 



PART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



57 



Quintianus, the praetor or governor of the province, was 
enamoured with her : but not being able to work his ill de- 
sign upon her, ordered her to be scourged, and then im- 
prisoned, for not worshipping the heathen gods. After which, 
she, still persisting constant in the faith, was put upon the 
rack, burnt with hot irons, and had her breast cut off. And 
then being remanded back to prison, she had several divine 
comforts afforded her : but the praetor sending for her again, 
being half-dead, she prayed to God to receive her soul ; with 
which petition she immediately expired ; it being the fifth of 
February, A. D. 253. 

§. 3. Valentine was an ancient presbyter of 14. valentine 
the Church; he suffered martyrdom under Clau- bishop and 
dius at Rome. Being delivered into the custody martyr - 
of one Asterius, he wrought a miracle upon his daughter ; 
whom, being blind, he restored to sight ; by which means he 
converted the whole family to Christianity, who all of them 
afterwards suffered for their religion. Valentine, after a 
year's imprisonment at Rome, was beheaded in the Elaminian- 
way about the year 271, and was enrolled among the martyrs 
of the Church ; his day being established before the times of 
Gregory the Great. He was a man of most admirable parts, 
and so famous for his love and charity, that the The orig i nal of 
custom of choosing Valentines upon his festival choosing Vaien- 
(which is still practised) took its rise from thence. tmes ' 

Sect. III. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in March. 

David, to whose memory the first of this March j David 
month was formerly dedicated, was descended archbishop of 
from the royal family of the Britons, being uncle Menevia - 
to the great king Arthur, and son of Xantus prince of Wales, 
by one Melearia, a nun. He was a man very learned and 
eloquent, and of incredible austerity in his life and conversa- 
tion. By his diligence Pelagianism was quite rooted out, 
and many earnest professors of the same converted unto the 
truth. He was made bishop of Caerleon in Wales, which see 
he afterwards removed to Menevia ; from him ever since 
called St. David's. He sat long, viz. sixty-five years, and 
(having built twelve monasteries in the country thereabouts) 
died in the year 642 : being, as Bale writes out of the British 
histories, a hundred and forty-six years old. He was buried 
in his own cathedral church, and canonized by Pope Calixtus 



£8 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[cH.ir. i. 



II. about five hundred years afterwards. Many things are 
reported of him incredible ; as that his death was foretold 
thirty years beforehand ; and that he was always attended by 
angels, who kept him company ; that he bestowed upon the 
waters of Bath that extraordinary heat they have ; and that 
whilst he was once preaching to a great multitude of people 
at Brony, the ground swelled under his feet into a little hill ; 
with several other such stories not worth rehearsing. 
2. cedde or §• 2. Cedde was, in the absence of Wilfride, 

chad, bishop of archbishop of York, who was gone to Paris for 
consecration, and gave no hopes of a speedy 
return, enforced by Egfrid king of Northumberland to accept 
of that see. But Wilfride being returned, Cedde was per- 
suaded by Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, to resign the 
see to him : after which for some time he lived a monastical 
life at Leastingeag ; till, by the means of the same Theodorus, 
he was made bishop of Lichfield, under Wolf here, king of 
Mercia, whom he is said to have converted. He died March 
2, A. D. 672. 

7. Perpetua, a §• 3 - Perpetua was a lady of quality, who 
Mauritanian suffered martyrdom in Mauritania, under the 
martyr. emperor Severus, about the year 205. She is 

often very honourably mentioned by Tertullian and St. 
Austin ; the last of whom lets us know that the day of her 
martyrdom was settled into a holy-day in his time; and re- 
marks of her, that she gave suck to a young child at the time 
of her sufferings. 

12 Gre<ro the §' & re 9 or y tne Great, who stands next in 
Great^wshop of the calendar, was descended from noble parents. 
and ° on " He vei 7 earl y a(id i cte d bimself to study and 
piety, giving all his estate to the building and 
maintaining of religious houses. He was consecrated pope 
about the year 590, but vigorously opposed the title of uni- 
versal bishop (which the bishops of Constantinople did then, 
and the bishops of Rome do now assume) as blasphemous, 
antichristian, and diabolical. Among other his glorious and 
Christian deeds, his memory was annually celebrated here in 
England, for his devout charity to our nation, in sending 
Austin the monk, with forty other missionaries, to convert the 
Saxons, (who had testified their desire to embrace Christi- 
anity,) which in a short time they happily achieved. Having 
held the popedom fourteen years, he died about the year 



TART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



59 



604, leaving many learned books behind him, which are still 
extant. 

§. 5. Edward was descended from the West 1C . 

n i- -it r> T-ii i IS. Edward, 

Saxon kings, and the son of king Edgar, who king of the West 
first reduced the heptarchy into one kingdom : Saxons - 
after whose death, in the year 975, this Edward succeeded to 
the crown at twelve years of age, but did not enjoy it above 
two or three years. For paying a visit to Elfride his mother- 
in-law at Corfe-castle, in Dorsetshire, he was by her order 
stabbed in the back, (whilst he was drinking a cup of wine,, 
to make way for her son Etheldred, his half-brother. His 
favour to the monks made his barbarous murder to be esteemed 
a martyrdom ; the day of which was appointed to be kept 
festival by pope Innocent IV. A. D. 1245. 

§. 6. Benedict was born in Norcia, a town in 
Italy, of an honourable family. Being much S1 - a B b e b n e t dict ' 
given to devotion, he set up an order of monks, 
which bears his name, about the year 529. He was very re- 
markable for his mortification; and the monks of' his own 
order relate, that he would often roll himself in a heap of 
briers to check any carnal desires that he found to arise in 
himself. St. Gregory 21 tells us of a very famous miracle 
wrought upon his account, viz. That the Goths, when they 
invaded Italy, came to burn his cell; and being set on fire, it 
burnt round him in a circle, not doing him the least hurt : at 
which the Goths being enraged, threw him into a hot oven, 
stopping it up close ; but coming the next day, they found him 
safe, neither his flesh scorched, nor his clothes singed. He 
died on the twenty-first of March, A. D. 542. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in April. 

Richard, surnamed de Wiche, from a place April 3. Richard, 
so called in Worcestershire, where he was born, bishop of cm- 
was brought up at the universities of Oxford chester - 
and Paris. Being come to man's estate, he travelled to Bono- 
ma ; where having studied the canon law seven years, he be- 
came public reader of the same. Being returned home, he 
was, in the vacancy of the see of Chichester, chosen bishop 
by that chapter ; which the king opposing, (he having nomin- 
ated another,) Bichard appealed to Borne, and had his election 
confirmed by the pope, who consecrated him also at Lyons, 

M Greg. Dial. lib. iii. 



60 



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[CHAP. It 



in the year 1245. He was very much reverenced for his 
great learning and diligent preaching, but especially for his 
integrity of life and conversation. Strange miracles are told 
of him : as that, by his blessing, he increased a single loaf of 
bread to satisfy the hunger of three thousand poor people ; 
and that in his extreme old age, whilst he was celebrating the 
eucharist, he fell down with the chalice in his hand, but the 
wine was miraculously preserved from falling to the ground. 
About seven or eight years after his death, he was canonized 
for a saint by pope Urban IV. A. D. 1261. 

§. 2. St. Ambrose was born about the year 
bishop ofMhan. ^40. His father was praetorian prsefect of Gaul, 
in whose palace St. Ambrose was educated. It 
is reported, that in his infancy a swarm of bees settled upon 
his cradle; which was a prognostication, as was supposed, of 
his future eloquence. After his father's death, he went with 
his mother to Rome, where he studied the laws, practised as 
an advocate, and was made governor of Milan and the neigh- 
bouring cities. Upon the death of Auxentius, bishop of 
Milan, there being a great contest in the election of a new 
bishop, this good father, in an excellent speech, exhorted 
them to peace and unanimity ; which so moved the affections 
of the people, that they immediately forgot the competitors 
whom they were so zealous for before, and unanimously de- 
clared that they would have their governor for their bishop. 
Who, after several endeavours by flight and other artifices to 
avoid that burden, was at last compelled to yield to the 
importunities of the people, and to be consecrated bishop. 
Prom which time he gave all his money to pious uses, and set- 
tled the reversion of his estate upon the Church. He governed 
that see with great piety and vigilance for more than twenty 
years, and died in the year 396, being about fifty-seven years 
old : having first converted St. Augustin to the faith; at whose 
baptism he is said miraculously to have composed that divine 
hymn, so well known in the Church by the name of Te Deum. 
19. Alphege, §• 3 - Alphege was an Englishman of a most 
archbishop°of holy and austere life, which was the more admir- 
canterbury. ^ e m hi m? because he was born of great pa- 
rentage, and began that course of life in his younger years. 
He was first abbot of Bath, then bishop of Winchester, in the 
\ ear 984, and twelve years afterwards archbishop of Canter- 
bury. But in the year 1012, the Danes being disappointed 



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61 



of a certain tribute which they claimed as due to them, they 
fell upon Canterbury, and spoiled and burnt both the city and 
church : nine parts in ten of the people they put to the sword ; 
and after seven months miserable imprisonment, stoned the 
good archbishop to death at Greenwich ; who was thereupon 
canonized for a saint and martyr, and had the nineteenth of 
April allowed him as his festival. 

§. 4. St. George, the famous patron of the 
English nation, was born in Cappadocia, and suf- Georgefmartyr. 
fered for the sake of his religion, A. D. 290, un- 
der the emperor Diocletian, (in whose army he had before 
been a colonel,) being supposed to have been the person that 
pulled down the edict against the Christians, which Diocle- 
tian had caused to be affixed upon the church doors. 22 The 
legends relate several strange stories of him, which are so 
common, they need not here be related : I shall only give a 
short account how he came to be so much esteemed of in 
England. 

When Robert duke of Normandy, son to Wil- Howhe came to 
liam the Conqueror, was prosecuting his victories be patron of the 
against the Turks, and laying siege to the famous Ell s llsh - 
city of Antioch, which was like to be relieved by a mighty 
army of the Saracens ; St. George appeared with an innumer- 
able army coming down from the hills all in white, with a red 
cross in his banner, to reinforce the Christians ; which occa- 
sioned the infidel army to fly, and the Christians to possess 
themselves of the town. This story made St. George extra- 
ordinary famous in those times, and to be esteemed a patron, 
not only of the English, but of Christianity itself. Not but 
that St. George was a considerable saint before this, having 
had a church dedicated to him by Justinian the emperor. 

Sect. V. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in May. 

The third of this month is celebrated as a fes- May 3 Inven . 
tival by the Church of Rome, in memory of the tion of the 
Invention of the Cross, which is said to be owing cross ' 
to this occasion. Helena, the mother of Constantine the 
Great, being admonished in a dream to search for the cross 
of Christ atj Jerusalem, took a journey thither with that in- 
tent : and having employed labourers to dig at Golgotha, after 
opening the ground very deep, (for vast heaps of rubbish had 

22 See Lactantius de Mortibus Persecutorum. 



62 



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[CHAV. X 



purposely been thrown there by the spiteful Jews or hea- 
thens,) she found three crosses, which she presently conclud- 
ed were the crosses of our Saviour and the two thieves who 
were crucified with him. But being at a loss to know which 
was the cross of Christ, she ordered them all three to be ap- 
plied to a dead person. Two of them, the story says, had no 
effect ; but the third raised the carcass to life, which was an 
evident sign to Helena, that that was the cross she looked for. 
As soon as this was known, every one was for getting a piece 
of the cross ; insomuch that in Paulinus's time (who being a 
scholar of St. Ambrose, and bishop of Nola, nourished about 
the year 420) there was much more of the relics of the cross, 
than there was of the original wood. Whereupon that father 
says, " it was miraculously increased ; it very kindly afforded 
wood to men's importunate desires, without any loss of its 
substance." 

6 st John §• ^- ^ ne sixth of this month was anciently 

Evang. ante dedicated to the memory of St. John the evan- 
Port. Lat. gelist's miraculous deliverance from the persecu- 
tion of Domitian: to whom being accused as an eminent as- 
serter of atheism and impiety, and a public subverter of the 
religion of the empire, he was sent for to Rome, where he was 
treated with all the cruelty that could be expected from so 
bloody and barbarous a prince ; for he was immediately put 
into a caldron of boiling oil, or rather oil set on fire, before 
the gate called Porta Latina, in the presence of the senate. 
But his Master and Lord, who favoured him when on earth 
above all the Apostles, so succoured him here, that he felt no 
harm from the most violent rage ; but, as if he had been only 
anointed, like the athletae of old, he came out more vigorous 
and active than before : the same divine Providence that 
secured the three children in the fiery furnace, bringing the 
holy man safe out of this, one would think, inevitable destruc- 
tion ; and so vouchsafing him the honour of martyrdom, with- 
out his enduring the torments of it. 

19. Dunstan §• ^' Dunstan, of whom we are next to speak, 
archbishop of was well extracted, being related to king Athel- 

Canterbury. Rq wag yery weU skiUed j n m()gt of the jj_ 

beral arts, and among the rest in refining metals and forging 
them ; which being qualifications much above the genius of 
the age he lived in, first gained him the name of a conjurer, 
and then of a saint. He was certainly a very honest man, 



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63 



and never feared to reprove vice in any of the kings of the 
Yv r est Saxons, of whom he was confessor to four successively. 
But the monks (to whom he was a very great friend, applying 
all his endeavours to enrich them and their monasteries) have 
filled his life with several nonsensical stories : such as are, his 
making himself a cell at Glastenburg all of iron at his own 
forge ; his harp playing of itself, without a hand ; his taking 
a she-devil, who tempted him to lewdness under the shape ot 
a fine lady, by the nose with a pair of red-hot tongs ; and 
several other such ridiculous relations not worth repeating. 
He was promoted by king Edgar, first to the bishopric of 
Worcester, soon after to London, and two years after that to 
Canterbury ; where, having sat twenty-seven years, he died 
May 19, A. D. 988. 

§. 4. Augustin was the person we have al- 26 Augus ti n , 
ready mentioned, as sent by pope Gregory the first archbishop 
Great to convert the Saxons, from whence he of Canterbur y- 
got the name of the apostle of the English. Whilst he was 
over here, he was made archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 596. 
He had a contest with the monks of Bangor, about submis- 
sion to the see of Rome, who refused any subjection but to 
God, and the bishop of Caerleon. Soon after this difference, 
Ethelfride, a pagan king of Northumberland, invaded Wales, 
and slaughtered a hundred and fifty of these monks, who came 
in a quiet manner to mediate a peace : which massacre is by 
some writers (but without just grounds) imputed to the in- 
stigation of Austin, in revenge for their opposition to him. 
After he had sat some time in the see of Canterbury, he de- 
ceased the twenty-sixth of May, about the year 610. 

§. 5. JBede was born at Yarrow, in North- 
umberland, A. D. 673, and afterwards well 25r " SST 1 * 6 
educated in Greek and Latin studies, in which 
he made a proficiency beyond most of his age. He is author 
of several learned philosophical and mathematical tracts, as 
also of comments upon the Scripture : but his most valuable 
piece is his Ecclesiastical History of the Saxons. Being a 
monk, he studied in his cell ; where spending more hours, and 
to better purpose, than the monks were wont to do, a report 
was raised that he never went out of it. However, he would 
not leave it for preferment at Borne, which the pope had often 
invited him to. 



G4 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[chap. x. 



How be got the His 'learning and piety gained him the sur- 
name of vener- name of Venerable. Though the common story 
al)le - which goes about that title's being given him, 

is this: his scholars having a mind to fix a rhyming title 
upon his tombstone, as was the custom in those times, the 
poet wrote, 

HAC SUNT IN FOSSA, 
BEDiE OSSA. 

Placing the word ossa at the latter end of the'verse for the 
rhyme, but not being able to think of any proper epithet that 
would stand before it. The monk being tired in this per- 
plexity to no purpose, fell asleep ; but when he awaked, he 
found his verse filled up by an angelic hand, standing thus in 
fair letters upon the tomb : 

HAC SUNT IN FOSSA, 
BEDiE VENERABILIS OSSA. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in June. 

junei Nico Nicomede was scholar to St. Peter, and was 
mSe, a Roman discovered to be a Christian by his honourably 
martyr 114 burying one Eelicula, a martyr. He was beat 
to death with leaden plummets for the sake of 
his religion, in the reign of Domitian. 

5. Boniface, bi- . §• % Boniface was a Saxon l presbyter born 
shop of Ments, in England, and at first called Wintrid. He was 
and martyr. gent a m j ss i onarv by Pope Gregory II. into 
Germany, where he converted several countries, and from 
thence got the name of the apostle of Germany. He was 
made bishop of Ments in the year 745. He was one of the 
most considerable men of his time, (most ecclesiastical mat- 
ters going through his hands, as appears by his letters,) and 
was also a great friend and admirer of Bede. Carrying on his 
conversions in Frisia, he was killed by the barbarous people 
near Utrecht, A. D. 755. 

§. 3. St. Alban was the first Christian martyr 
17 martyr ban ' in this island, about the middle of the third 
century. He was converted to Christianity by 
">ne Amphialus, a priest of Caerleon in Wales, who, flying 
from persecution into England, was hospitably entertained 
by St. Alban at Verulam, in Hertfordshire, now called from 



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65 



him St. Albans. When, by reason of a strict search made 
for Amphialus, St. Alban could entertain him safe no longer, 
he dressed him in his own clothes, and by that means gained 
him an opportunity of escaping. But this being soon found 
out, exposed St. Alban to the fury of the pagans ; who sum- 
moning him to do sacrifice to their gods, and he refusing, 
they first miserably tormented him, and then put him to 
death. The monks have fathered several miracles upon him, 
which it is not worth while here to relate. 

§. 4. Edward king of the West Saxons being 

I i i j ^ i i • ^ ■ i 20. Translation 

barbarously murdered by his mother-in-law, was f Edward, king 
first buried at Warham without any solemnity ; g^ons^ 68 * 
but after three years was carried by duke Al- 
ferus to the minister of Shaftesbury, and there interred with 
great pomp. To the memory of which the twentieth of June 
has been since dedicated. 

Sect. VII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in July. 

About the year 1338 there was a terrible July2 . visita- 
schism in the Church of Rome between two tion of the biess- 
anti-popes, Urban VI. and Clement VII., the ed vkgin Mary ' 
first chosen by the Italian, the other by the French faction 
among the cardinals. Upon this several great disorders 
happened. To avert which for the future, pope Urban in- 
stituted a feast to the memory of that famous journey, which 
the mother of our Lord took into the mountains of Judaea, 
to visit the mother of St. John the Baptist ; that by this 
means the intercession of the blessed Virgin might be obtained 
for the removal of those evils. The same festival was con- 
firmed by the decree of Boniface IX., though it was not 
universally observed until the Council of Basil : by decree of 
which Council in their forty-third session, upon July 1, 1441, 
it was ordered that this holy-day, called the Visitation of the 
blessed Virgin Mary, should be celebrated in all Christian 
churches, that "she being honoured with this solemnity, 
might reconcile her Son by her intercession, who is now 
angry for the sins of men ; and that she might grant peace 
and unity among the faithful." 

§. 2. St. Martin was born in Pannonia, and Xranslation 
for some time lived the life of a soldier, but at f St. Martin, 
last took orders, and was made bishop of Tours gjop and con- 
in France. He was very diligent in breaking 

F 



66 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



down the heathen images and altars, which were standing in 
his time. He died in the year 400, after he had sat bishop 
twenty-six years. The French had formerly such an esteem 
for his memory, that they carried his helmet with them into 
their wars, either as an ensign to encourage them to bravery, 
or else as a sort of charm to procure them victory. His 
feast-day is celebrated on the eleventh of November. The 
fourth of this month is dedicated only to the memory of the 
translating or removing of his body from the place where it 
was buried, to a more noble and magnificent tomb ; which 
was performed by Perpetuus, one of his successors in the see 
of Tours. 

15 Swithun §" ^' ^ w ^ iUn was nrs ^ a mon ^, and after- 

bishopof win- wards a prior, of the convent of Winchester. 
iaied er ' traHS " U P on the death of Helinstan bishop of that see, 
by the favour of king Ethelwolph, he was pro- 
moted to succeed him in that bishopric, A. D. 852, and con- 
tinued in it eleven years, to his death. He would not be 
buried within the church, as the bishops then generally were, 
but in the cemetery, or churchyard. Many miracles being 
reported to be done at his grave, there was a chapel built 
over it ; and a solemn translation made in honour of him, 
which in the popish times was celebrated on the fifteenth 
of July. 

20. Margaret, §• 4 - Margaret was born at Antioch, being 
virgin and mar- the daughter of an heathen priest. Olybius, 
tyr at Antioch. presideilt of t h e East under the Romans, had an 
inclination to marry her; but finding she was a Christian, 
deferred it till he could persuade her to renounce her re- 
ligion. But not being able to accomplish his design, he first 

Eut her to unmerciful torments, and then beheaded her. She 
as the same office among the papists, as Lucina has among 
the heathens ; viz. to assist women in labour. Her holy-day 
is very ancient, not only in the Roman, but also in the Greek 
Church, who celebrate her memory under the name of Marina. 
She suffered in the year 278. 

22. saint Mary §• 5. By the first Common Prayer Book of 
Magdalene. k m g Edward VI., the twenty-second of July 
was dedicated to the memory of St. Mary Magdalene. 
The Epistle and I* 1 tne service for the day, Prov. xxxi. 10, to 
Gospel. the end, was appointed for the Epistle ; and the 
Gospel was taken out of St. Luke vii. 36, to the end. But 



PA.H7 II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



upon a stricter inquiry, it appearing dubious to our reformers, 
as it doth still to many learned men, whether the woman 
mentioned in the scripture that was appointed for the Gospel, 
were Mary Magdalene or not ; they thought it more proper 
to discontinue the festival. However, as I have mentioned 
the other parts of the service, I will also give the reader the 
Collect that was appointed, which he will observe was very 
apt and suitable to the Gospel. 

Merciful Father, awe us grace that we never _ „ „ 

. • 7 .7^ 7 /• The Collect. 

presume to sin through the example of any 
creature : hut if it shall cftance us at any time to offend thy 
divine Majesty, that then we may truly repent and lament 
tlie same, after the example of Mary Magdalene, and by a 
lively faith obtain remission of all our sins, through the only 
merits of thy Son our Saviour Christ. Amen. 

§. 6. St. Ann was the mother of the blessed ^ a ^ 
Virgin Mary and the wife of Joachim her father, mother to the ' 
An ancient piece of the sacred genealogy, set ^ s r y d Vkgin 
<iown formerly by Hippolitus the martyr, is pre- 
served in Nicephorus. 23 " There were three sisters of Beth- 
lehem, daughters of Matthan the priest and Mary his wife, 
under the reign of Cleopatra and Casopares king of Persia, 
before the reign of Herod, the son of Antipater : the eldest 
was Mary, the second was Sobe, the youngest's name was Ann. 
The eldest being married in Bethlehem, had for daughter 
Salome the midwife : Sobe the second likewise married in 
Bethlehem, and was the mother of Elizabeth : last of all the 
third married in Galilee, and brought forth Mary the 'mother 
of Christ." 

Sect. VIII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in August. 

The first day of this month is commonly called 
Lammas-day, though in the Roman Church it is Lammas-day. 
generally known by the name of the feast of St. 
Peter in the fetters, being the day of the commemoration 
of St. Peter's imprisonment. For Eudoxia, the wife of The- 
odosius the emperor, having made a journey to Jerusalem, 
was there presented with the fetters which St. Peter was 
loaded with in prison : which she presented to the pope, who 
afterwards laid them up in a church built by Theodosius in 
honour of St. Peter. Eudoxia, in the mean time, having ob- 

53 Niceph. lib. ii. cap. 3, vol. i. p. 13G, A. 
F 2 



68 



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[CHAP. I. 



served that the first of August was celebrated in memory of 
Augustus Caesar, (who had on that day been saluted Augustus, 
and had upon that account given occasion to the changing of 
the name of the month from Sextilis to August,) she thought 
it not reasonable that a holy-day should be kept in memory 
of a heathen prince, which would better become that of a 
godly martyr ; and therefore obtained a decree of the em- 
peror, that this day for the future should be kept holy in 
remembrance of St. Peters bonds. 

The reason of its being called Lammas-day, 
Why so cai e . some think was a fond conceit the popish people 
had, that St. Peter was patron of the Lambs, from our Sa- 
viour's words to him, Feed my lambs. Upon which account 
they thought the mass of this day very beneficial to make 
their lambs thrive. Though Somner's account of it is more 
rational and easy, viz. that it is derived from the old Saxon 
piapmsefre, i. e. Loaf-mass, it having been the custom of the 
Saxons to offer on that day an oblation of loaves made of 
new wheat, as the first-fruits of their new corn. 

§.2. The festival of our Lord's transfigura- 
tiorfof^Sd. m tne mount is very ancient. In the Church 

of Rome indeed it is but of late standing, being 
instituted by pope Calixtus in the year 1455; but in the 
Greek Church it was observed long before. 

§. 3. The seventh of August was formerly 
7 ' Nal s? s ? f Je " dedicated to the memory of Afra, a courtezan of 

Crete ; who being converted to Christianity by 
Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom, and was 
commemorated on this day : how it came afterwards to be 
dedicated to the name of Jesus, I do not find. 
10 Saint Lau- §' ^' Laurence was Dv birth a Spaniard, and 
reiice, archdea- treasurer of the Church at Rome, being deacon to 
™ n r °J r Rome > and Sixtus the pope about the year 259. When his 

bishop was haled to death by the soldiers of Va- 
lerian the emperor, St. Laurence would not leave him, but 
followed him to the place of execution, expostulating with 
him all the way, " father, where do you go without your 
son? You never were wont to offer sacrifice without me." 
Soon after which, occasion being taken against him by the 
greedy pagans, for not delivering up the church-treasury, 
which they thought was in his custody, he was laid upon a 
gridiron, and broiled over a fire : at which time he behaved 



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69 



himself with so much courage and resolution, as to cry out to his 
tormentors, that " he was rather comforted than tormented ;" 
bidding them withal "turn him on the other side, for that was 
broiled enough." His martyrdom was so much esteemed in after- 
times, that Pulcheria the empress built a temple to his honour, 
which was either rebuilt or enlarged by Justinian. Here was 
the gridiron on which he suffered laid up, where (if we may 
believe St. Gregory the Great, who was too credulous in such 
kind of matters) it became famous for many miracles. 

§. 5. St. Augustinwas born at Togaste, a town 
in Numidia in Africa, in the year 354. He ap- ^X^' 
plied himself at first only to human learning, such 
as poetry and plays, rhetoric and philosophy ; being professor 
at Rome first, and afterwards at Milan. At the last of these 
places St. Ambrose became acquainted with him, who instruct- 
ed him in divinity, and set him right as to some wrong notions 
which he had imbibed. He returned into Africa about the 
year 388, and three years afterwards was chosen bishop of 
Hippo. He was a great and judicious divine, and the most 
voluminous writer of all the Fathers. He died in the year 430, 
at seventy-seven years of age. 

§. 6. The twenty-ninth of this month, as Du- 29 Beheadillg 
randus says, was formerly called Festum coUec- ofSaint John" 
tionis S. Johan. Baptistce, or the feast of gather- Baptlst - 
ing up St. John the Baptist's Relics ; and afterwards by cor- 
ruption, Festum decollationis, the feast of his beheading. For 
the occasion of the honours done to this saint are said to be 
some miraculous cures performed by his relics in the fourth 
century : for which reason Julian the Apostate ordered them 
to be burnt, but some of them were privately reserved. His 
head was found after this, in the emperor Valens's time, and 
reposited as a precious relic in a church at Constantinople. 

Sect. IX. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
September. 

Giles, or JEgidius, was one who was born at Sept , GaeS) 
Athens, and came into France, A.D. 715, having abbot and coA- 
first disposed of his patrimony to charitable uses. fessor ' 
He lived two years with Caesarius bishop of Aries, and after- 
wards took to an hermitical life, till he was made abbot of an 
abbey at Nismes, which the king, who had found him in his 



70 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



cell by chance as he was hunting, and was pleased with his 
sanctity, built for his sake. He died in the year 795. 
7. Eunurchus §• ^" Eunurchus, otherwise called Evortius, 
bishop of Or-' was bishop of Orleans in France, being present 
leans - at the Council of Valentia, A. D. 375. The cir- 

cumstances of his election to this see were very strange. Be- 
ing sent by the Church of Rome into France, about redeeming 
some captives, at the time when the people of Orleans were 
in the heat of an election of a bishop ; a dove lighted upon 
his head, which he could not, without great difficulty, drive 
away. The people observing this, took it for a sign of his great 
sanctity, and immediately thought of choosing him bishop : 
but not being willing to proceed to election, till they were as- 
sured that the lighting of the dove was by the immediate di- 
rection of Providence, they prayed to God that, if he in his 
goodness designed him for their bishop, the same dove might 
light upon him again, which immediately happening after their 
prayers, he was chosen bishop by the unanimous suffrages of 
the whole city. Besides this, several other miracles are attri- 
buted to him ; as the quenching a fire in the city by his pray- 
ers ; his directing the digging of the foundation of a church, 
in such a place, where the workmen found a pot of gold, almost 
sufficient to defray the charges of the building : his converting 
seven thousand infidels to Christianity within the space of three 
days : and lastly, for foretelling his own death, and in a sort of 
prophetical manner naming Arianus for his successor, 
s Nativity of §• ^ ^ ne e ^§ ntn of this month is dedicated to 
t;ie blessed vir- the memory of the blessed Virgin s nativity, a 
em Mary. consort of angels having been heard in the air to 
solemnize that day as her birthday. Upon which account the 
day itself was not only kept holy in after-ages ; but it was also 
honoured by pope Innocent IV. with an octave, A. D. 1244, 
and by Gregory XI. with a vigil in the year 1 370. 

§. 4. The fourteenth of this month is called 
H ' H day^ Cr0SS " Holy -cross -day, a festival deriving its beginning 
about the year 615, on this occasion : Cosroes 
king of Persia having plundered Jerusalem, (after having 
made great ravages in other parts of the Christian world,) 
took away from thence a great piece of the cross, which 
Helena had left there : and, at the times of his mirth, made 
sport with that and the Holy Trinity. Heraclius the emperor 
giving him battle, defeated the enemy, and recovered the 



TART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



71 



cross : but bringing it back with triumph to Jerusalem, he 
found the gates shut against him, and heard a voice from 
heaven, which told him, that the King of kings did not enter 
into that city in so stately a manner, but meek and lowly, and 
riding upon an ass. With that the emperor dismounted from 
his horse, and went into the city not only afoot, but bare- 
footed, and carrying the wood of the cross himself. Which 
honour done to the cross gave rise to this festival. 

§. 5. Lambert was bishop of Utrecht in the 17 Lambert 
time of king Pepin I. But reproving the king's bishop and 
grandson for his lewd amours, he was, by the mart >' r - 
contrivance of one of his concubines, barbarously murdered. 
Being canonized, he at first only obtained a commemoration 
in the calendar ; till Robert bishop of Leeds in a general 
chapter of the Cistercian order procured a solemn feast to 
his honour, A. D. 1240. 

§. 6. St. Cyprian was by birth an African, of 
a good family and education. Before his con- prianrbishop cf 
version he taught rhetoric ; but by the persua- Carthage, and 
sion of one Ceecilius, a priest, (from whom he mar >T ' 
had his surname,) he became a Christian. And giving all his 
substance to the poor, he was elected bishop of Carthage in 
the year 248. He behaved himself with great prudence in 
the Decian persecution, persuading the people to constancy 
and perseverance : which so enraged the heathen, that they 
made proclamation for his discovery in the open theatre. He 
suffered martyrdom September 14, A. D. 258, under Valeri- 
anus and Gallienus, having foretold that storm long before^ 
and disposed his flock to bear it accordingly. 

But the Cyprian in the Roman calendar cele- Thg c ^ ^ 
brated on this day, as appears by the Boman the^ornarT m 
Breviary, is not the same with St. Cyprian of calendar a differ* 

/^ii i i r*\ ■ n a • i i ent person. 

Carthage, but another Cyprian of Antioch, who 
of a conjurer was made a Christian, and afterwards a deacon 
and a martyr. He happened to be in love with one Justina, 
a beautiful young Christian ; whom trying, without success, 
to debauch, he consulted the Devil upon the matter, who 
frankly declared he had no power over good Christians. 
Cyprian, not pleased with this answer of the Devil, quitted 
his service, and turned Christian. But as soon as it was 
known, both he and Justina were accused before the heathen 
governor, who condemned them to be fried in a frying-pan. 



72 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[CHAP. I. 



with pitch and fat, in order to force them to renounce their 
religion, which they notwithstanding with constancy persisted 
in. After their tortures they were beheaded, and their bodies 
thrown away unburied, till a kind mariner took them up, and 
conveyed them to Rome, where they were deposited in the 
church of Constantine. They were martyred in the year 272. 

§. 7. St. Jerome was the son of one Eusebius, 
?ome, a priest e ,"con- born in a town called Stridon, in the confines of 
fessor, and doc- Pannonia and Dalmatia. Being a lad of pregnant 
parts, he was sent to Rome to learn rhetoric un- 
der Donatus and Victorinus, two famous Latin critics. There 
he got to be secretary to Pope Damasus, and was afterwards 
baptized. He studied divinity with the principal divines of 
that age, viz. Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius, and Didymus. 
And to perfect his qualifications this way, he learned the He- 
brew tongue from one Barraban a Jew. He spent most of 
his time in a monastery at Bethlehem, in great retirement and 
hard study ; where he translated the Bible. He died in the 
year 422, being fourscore years old. 

Sect. X. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy -days in October. 

October i. Re- Remigius was born at Landen, where he kept 
migius, bishop himself so close to his studies, that he was sup- 
posed to have led a monastic life. After the 
death of Bennadius, he was chosen bishop of Rhemes, for 
his extraordinary learning and piety. He converted to 
Christianity king Clodoveus, and good part of his kingdom ; 
for which reason he is by some esteemed the apostle of 
France. After he had held his bishopric seventy-four 
years, he died at ninety-six years of age, A. D. 535. The 
cruse which he made use of is preserved in Prance to this 
day, their kings being usually anointed out of it at their 
coronation. 

§. 2. Faith, a young woman so called, was 
^andmaljyf! 11 born at Pais de Gavre in France. She suffered 
martyrdom and very cruel torments under the 
presidentship of Dacianus, about the year 290. 
9. saint Denys §• 3. St. Denys, or Dionysius the Areopagite, 
Areop. bishop was converted to Christianity by St. Paul, as is 
and martyr. recor d e d in the seventeenth of the Acts. He 
was at first one of the judges of the famous court of the Are- 
opagus, but was afterwards made bishop of Athens, where he 



PART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



73 



suffered martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel. There are 
several books which bear his name ; but they seem all of them 
to have been the product of the sixth century. He is claimed 
by the French as their tutelar saint, by reason that, as they 
say, he was the first that preached the Gospel to them. But 
it is plain that Christianity was not preached in that nation till 
long after St. Dionysius's death. Among several foolish and 
incoherent stories, which they relate of him, this is one : that, 
after several grievous torments undergone, he was beheaded 
by Fescennius, the Roman governor at Paris ; at which time he 
took up his head, after it was severed from his body, and 
walked two miles with it in his hands, to a place called the 
Martyr's-hill, and there laid down to rest. 

S. 4. The thirteenth of this month is dedicated 1Q „ ... 

i n i • -nn ii/~<p , 13 - Translation 

to the memory ot king Edward the Confessors of king Edward 
translation. He was the youngest son of king the Confessor - 
Ethelred ; but, all his elder brothers being dead, or fled away, 
he came to the crown of England in the year 1042. His 
principal excellency was his gathering together a body of all 
the most useful laws, which had been made by the Saxon and 
Danish kings. The name of Confessor is supposed to have 
been given him by the pope, for settling what was then called 
Rome-scot ; but is now better known by the name of Peter- 
pence. ' The monks have attributed so many miracles to him, 
that even his vestments are by them reputed holy. His crown, 
chair, staff, spurs, &c, are still made use of in the corona- 
tion of our English kings. 

§. 5. JStheldred was daughter of Anna, a king 
of the East- Angles, who was first married to one ' virgin? ' ' 
Tonbert, a great lord in Lincolnshire, &c, and 
after him to king Egfrid about the year 671, with both which 
husbands she still continued a virgin, upon pretence of great 
sanctity. And staying at court twelve years, and continuing 
this moroseness, she got leave to depart to Coldingham abbey, 
where she was a nun under Ebba, the daughter of king Ethel- 
frida, who was abbess. Afterward she built an abbey at Ely, 
which she was abbess of herself, and there died and was 
buried, being recorded to posterity by the name of St. Audry. 

§. 6. Crispinus and Crispianus were brethren, 
and born at Rome : from whence they travelled ^martyr!"' 
to Soissons in France, about the year 303, in 
order to propagate the Christian religion. But because they 
would not be chargeable to others for their maintenance^ 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[chap. i. 



they exercised the trade of shoemakers. But the governor 
of the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them 
to be beheaded about the year 303. From which time the 
shoemakers made choice of them for their tutelar saints. 

Sect. XL — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
November. 

The second of this month is called All-Souls 
^ouh'day! day, being observed in the Church of Home up- 
on this occasion. A monk having visited Jeru- 
salem, and passing through Sicily as he returned home, had 
a mind to see mount iEtna, which is continually belching out 
fire and smoke, and upon that account by some thought to be 
the mouth of hell. Being there, he heard the devils within 
complain, that many departed souls were taken out of their 
hands by the prayers of the Cluniac monks. This, when he 
came home, he related to his abbot Odilo, as a true story; 
who thereupon appointed the second of November to be 
annually kept in his monastery, and prayers to be made there 
for all departed souls : and in a little time afterwards the 
monks got it to be made a general holy-day by the appoint- 
ment of the pope ; till in ours and other reformed churches 
it was deservedly abrogated. 

§. 2. Leonard was born at Le Nans, a town 
6< Le S r ?; con - in France, bred up in divinity under Remigius 
bishop of Rhemes, and afterwards made bishop 
of Limosin. He obtained of king Clodoveus a favour, that 
all prisoners whom he went to see should be set free. And 
therefore whenever he heard of any persons being prisoners 
for the sake of religion, or any other good cause, he presently 
procured their liberty this way. But the monks have improved 
this story, telling us, that if any one in prison had called upon 
his name, his fetters would immediately drop off, and the 
prison doors fly open : insomuch that many came from far 
countries, brought their fetters and chains, which had fallen 
off by his intercession, and presented them before him in 
token of gratitude. He died in the year 500, and has always 
been implored by prisoners as their saint. 
•,, c ■ .™ x- §.3. St. Martin's account has already been 

11. Saint Martin, . «-> T , . J 

bishop and con- given on J uly 4. 

fessor - §. 4. Britius, or St. Brice, was successor to St. 

13 - g ^ ius ' M - Martin in the bishopric of Tours. About the 
year 432, a great trouble befell him : for his 



VART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



75 



laundress proving with child, the uncharitable people of the 
town fathered it upon Brice. After the child was born, the 
censures of the people increased, who were then ready to stone 
their bishop. But the bishop having ordered the infant to be 
brought to him, adjured him by Jesus the son of the living 
God, to tell him whose child he was. The child being then 
but thirty days old, replied, "You are not my father." But 
this was so far from mending matters with Brice, that it made 
them much worse ; the people now accusing him of sorcerv 
likewise. At last, being driven out of the city, he appealed 
to Borne, and, after a seven years' suit, got his bishopric again. 
The story is told of him by Gregory Turonensis, his successor 
in his see at Tours. 

§. 5. Machutus, otherwise called Jlfaclovius, 
was a bishop in Bretagne in France, of that place 15 * SSp.* 115 ' 
which is from him called St. Maloes. He lived 
about the year 500, and was famous for many miracles, if the 
acts concerning him may be credited. 

§.6. Hugh was born in a city of Burgundy, 
called Gratianopolis. He was first a regular l7 -$tt£S; Q * 
canon, and afterwards a Carthusian monk. Be- 
ing very famous for his extraordinary abstinence and austerity 
of life, king Henry II. having built a house for Carthusian 
monks at Witteham in Somersetshire, sent over Beginald bi- 
shop of Bath to invite this holy man to accept the place of the 
prior of this new foundation. Hugh, after a great many en- 
treaties, assented, and came over with the bishop, and was by 
the same king made bishop of Lincoln : where he gained an 
immortal name for his well governing that see, and new build- 
ing the cathedral from the foundation. In the year 1200, 
upon his return from Carthusia, the chief and original house 
of their order, (whither he had made a voyage,) he fell sick 
of a quartan ague at London, and there died on November 
the seventeenth. His body was presently conveyed to Lin- 
coln, and happening to be brought thither when John king of 
England and William king of Scots had an interview there, 
the two kings, out of respect to his sanctity, assisted by some 
of their lords, took him upon their shoulders, and carried him 
to the cathedral. In the year 1220, he was canonized at 
Home : and his body being taken up October 7, 1282, was 
placed in a silver shrine. The monks have ascribed several 
miracles to him, which I shall omit for brevity, and only set 



76 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



[CHAP. 



down one story which is credibly related of him, viz. that 
coming to Godstow, a house of nuns near Oxford, and seeing 
a hearse in the middle of the choir covered with silk, and ta- 
pers burning about it, (it being then, as it is still in some parts 
of England, a custom to have such monuments in the church 
for some time after the burial of persons of distinction,) he 
asked who was buried there ; and being informed that it was 
Fair Rosamond, the concubine of king Henry II., who had 
that honour done her for having obtained a great many favours 
of the king for that house, he immediately commanded her 
body to be digged up, and to be buried in the churchyard, 
saying it was a place a great deal too good for a harlot, and 
therefore he would have her removed, as an example to terrify 
other women from such a wicked and filthy kind of life. 
20 Edmund §• ^' Edmund was a king of the East- Angles, 
king and mar- who, being assaulted by the Danes (after their ir- 
tyr ' ruption into England) for their possession of his 

country, and not being able to hold out against them, offered 
his own person, if they would spare his subjects. But the 
Danes having got him under their power, endeavoured to 
make him renounce his religion : which he refusing to do, 
they first beat him with bats, then scourged him with whips, 
and afterwards binding him to a stake, shot him to death with 
their arrows. His body was buried in a town where Sigebert, 
one of his predecessors, had built a church ; and where after- 
wards (in honour of this name) another was built more spa- 
cious, and the name of the town, upon that occasion, called 
St. Edmund's Bury. 

22. Caeciiia, §• 8. Ccecilia was a Roman lady who, refusing 

virgin and mar- to renounce her religion when required, was 
tyr ' thrown into a furnace of boiling water, and scald- 

ed to death : though others say she was stifled by shutting out 
the air of a bath, which was a death sometimes inflicted upon 
women of quality who were criminals. She lived in the year 
225. 

§. 9. St. Clement I. was a Roman by birth, 
ij'bishopof ent an ^ one °f fi rst bishops of that place : which 
Rome, and mar- see he held, according to the best accounts, from 
^ the year 64 or 65 to the year 81, or thereabouts ; 

and during which time he was most undoubtedly author of one, 
and is supposed to have been of two, very excellent epistles, 
the first of which was so much esteemed of by the primitive 



PART II.] 



OF THE CALENDAR. 



77 



Christians, as that for some time it was read in the churches for 
canonical scripture. 24 He was for the sake of his religion first 
condemned to hew stones in the mines ; and afterwards, hav- 
ing an anchor tied about his neck, was drowned in the sea. 

§.10. St. CatJierine was born at Alexandria, 25 Catherine 
and bred up to letters. About the year 305 she virgin and mar- 
was converted to Christianity, which she after- tyr * 
wards professed with great courage and constancy ; openly 
rebuking the heathen for offering sacrifice to their idols, and 
upbraiding the cruelty of Maxentius the emperor to his face. 
She was condemned to suffer death in a very unusual manner, 
viz. by rolling a wheel stuck round with iron spikes, or the 
points of swords, over her body. 

Sect. XII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
December. 

Nicolas was born at Patara, a city of Lycia, Dec 6 Nico]as 
and was afterwards, in the time of Constantine \ bishop of Myra ' 
the Great, made bishop of Myra. He was re- in Lycia ' 
markable for his great charity ; as a proof of which this instance 
may serve. Understanding that three young women, daughters 
of a person who had fell to decay, were tempted to take lewd 
courses for a maintenance, he secretly conveyed a sum of 
money to their father's house, sufficient to enable him to pro- 
vide for them in a virtuous way. 

§.2. The feast of the Conception of the Virgin 8 conception of 
Mary was instituted by Anselm, archbishop of the blessed Vir- 
Canterbury, upon occasion of William the Con- s mMar ^- 
queror's fleet being in a storm, and afterwards coming safe to 
shore. But the Council of Oxford, held in the year 1222, left 
people at liberty whether they would observe it or not. But 
it had before this given rise to the question ventilated so 
warmly in the Roman Church, concerning the Virgin Mary's 
immaculate conception ; which was first started by Peter 
Lombard about the year 1160. 

§.3. Lucy was a young lady of Syracuse, who, 
being courted by a gentleman, but preferring a l \uimixt^f m 
religious single life before marriage, gave all her 
fortune away to the poor, in order to stop his further appli- 
cations. But the young man, enraged at this, accused her 
to Paschasius, the heathen judge, for professing Christianity j 

34 Cave's Historia Literaria 



73 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAJ. II. 



who thereupon ordered her to be sent to the stews : but she 
struggling with the officers who were to carry her, was, after a 
great deal of barbarous usage, killed by them. She lived in 
the year 305. 

§. 4. The sixteenth of December is called O 
6. osapientia. g a pi ent ' ia ^ f rom fo e beginning of an anthem in 
the Latin service, which used to be sung in the church (for 
the honour of Christ's advent) from this day till Christmas Eve. 

§. 5. Silvester succeeded Miltiades in the pa- 
1 P K^ Pacy of Rome, A. D. 314. He is said to have 
been the author of several rites and ceremonies 
of the Romish Church, as of asylums, unctions, palls, cor- 
porals, mitres, &c. He died in the year 334. 



CHAPTER II. 
OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

Having done with the Tables, Rules, and Calendar, I should 
now proceed in order to the daily Morning and Evening Ser- 
vice: but the First Rubric, relating to that service, making- 
mention of several things which deserve a particular consider- 
ation, and which must necessarily be treated of some where or 
other ; I think this the properest place to do it in, and shall 
therefore take the opportunity of this rubric to treat of them 
in a distinct chapter by themselves. 

The Rubric runs thus : 
«[ The ORDER for MORNING and EVENING PRAYER, 

daily to be said and used throughout the year. 
The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accus- 
tomed place of the church, chapel, or chancel; except it shall 
be otherwise determined by the ordinary of the place; and 
the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past. 
And here it is to be noted, that such ornaments of the church, 
and the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, 
shall be retained and be in use, as were in this Church of 
England, by the authority of parliam ent, in the second year 
jf the reign of king Edward the Sixth. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



79 



These are the words of the rubric, and from thence I shall 
take occasion to treat of these four things, viz. 

I. The prescribed times of public prayer; Morning and 
Evening. 

II. The place where it is to be used ; in the accustomed 
place of the church, chapel, or chancel. 

III. The Minister, or person officiating. 

IV. The Ornaments used in the church by the minister. 
Of all which in their order. 

Sect. I. — Of the prescribed Times of Public Prayer. 

Man, consisting of soul and body, cannot al- The necessity of 
ways be actually engaged in the immediate prescribing set 

J . ^ j f, , P P , , - n times for the per- 

service or God, that being the privilege of an- formance of Di- 
gels and souls freed from the fetters of mor- vmeworsm P- 
tality. So long as we are here, we must worship God with 
respect to our present state ; and therefore must of necessity 
have some definite and particular time to do it in. Now that 
men might not be left in an uncertainty in a matter of so great 
importance, people of all ages and nations have been guided 
by the very dictates of nature, not only to appoint some cer- 
tain seasons to celebrate their more solemn parts of religion, 
(of which more hereafter,) but also to set apart daily some 
portion of time for the performance of divine worship. To 
his peculiar people the Jews God himself ap- why the Jewish 
pointed their set times of public devotion ; com- ^Jj^atThe 6 
manding them to offer up two lambs daily, one in third and ninth 
the morning, and the other at even, 1 which we hours, 
find, from other places of Scripture, 2 were at their third and 
ninth hours, which answer to our nine and three ; that so 
those burnt offerings, being types of the great sacrifice which 
Christ the Lamb of God was to offer up for the sins of the 
world, might be sacrificed at the same hours wherein his death 
was begun and finished. For about the third hour, or nine 
in the morning, he was delivered to Pilate, accused, examined, 
and condemned to die; 3 about the sixth hour, or noon, this 
Lamb of God was laid upon the altar of the cross ; 4 and at 
the ninth hour, or three in the afternoon, yielded up the 
ghost. 5 And though the Levitical law expired together with 

* Exod. xxix. 39. Numb, xxviii. 4. 2 Acts ii. 15, and chap. iii. 1. 3 Matt, 
xxvii. 1—26. * John xix. 14. 5 Matt, xxvii. 46, 50. 



80 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. n. 



The rimitive ° Ur Saviour » y et tne Public worship of God must 

christians ob- still have some certain times set apart for the per- 
hottrsof grayer 6 f° rmance °f ^ : an d accordingly all Christian 
for the same churches have been used to have their public de- 
reason, votions performed daily morning or evening. 
The Apostles and primitive Christians continued to observe 
the same hours of prayer with the Jews, as might easily be 
shewn from the records of the ancient Church. 6 But the 
Why not enjoin- Church of England cannot be so happy as to ap- 
ed by the church point any set hours when either morning or even- 
of England. ing prayer shall be said : because now people are 
grown so cold and indifferent in their devotions, they would 
be too apt to excuse their absenting from the public worship, 
from the inconveniency of the time : and therefore she hath 
only taken care to enjoin that public prayers be read every 
morning and evening daily throughout tlie year ; that so all 
her members may have opportunity of joining in public wor- 
ship twice at least every day. But to make the duty as prac- 
ticable and easy both to the minister and people as possible, 
she hath left the determination of the particular hours to the 
ministers that officiate ; who, considering every one his own 
and his people's circumstances, may appoint such hours for 
morning and evening prayer, as they shall judge to be most 
proper and convenient. 

ah priests and §• 2. But if it be in places where congregations 

deacons to say can De had, and tlie curate of tlie parish he at 

the mornmsr and 7 7 , „ 7 . ^ 777-77 

evening service, home, and not otherwise reasonably hindered, 
daily ; either ex p ec t s or enjoins that lie sail the same in the 

openly at church, . 7 r 7 7 J 7 J .. 

or privately in parish church or chapel where he minister em, 
their families. an ^ cause a oe n f oe tolled tliereunto, a con- 
venient time before he begin, that tlie people may come to liear 
God's word, and to pray with him. But if, for want of a 
congregation, or on some other account, he cannot conveni- 
ently read them in the church ; he is then bound to say them 
in the family where he lives : for by the same rubric, all 
priests and deacons are to say daily the morning and evening 
prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, 
or some other urgent cause? Of which cause, if it be fre- 
quently pretended, the Scotch Common Prayer requires that 

6 Constit. Apost. 1. 8, c. 34. Tertull. de Jejun. c. 10. Cypr. de Orat. Domin Basil, 
in Reg. fus. Disp. Int. 37. Hieron. in Dan. 6. Rup. de Divin. Offic. 1. 1, c. 5. 7 TLa 
Rubric at the end of the preface concerning the Service of the Church. 



SEC! . IT. j 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



81 



they make ilie bislwp of the diocese, or tlie bishop of tlie pro- 
vince, the judge and allower. The occasion of our rubric was 
probably a rule in the Roman Church, by which, even before 
the Reformation and the Council of Trent, the clergy were 
obliged to recite what they call the canonical hours, (i. e. the 
offices in the Breviary for the several hours of day and night,) 
either publicly in a church or chapel, or privately by them- 
selves. But our reformers not approving the priests perform- 
ing by themselves what ought to be the united devotions of 
many ; and yet not being willing wholly to discharge the 
clergy from a constant repetition of their prayers, thought fit 
to discontinue these solitary devotions ; but at the same time 
ordered, that if a congregation at church could not be had, the 
public service, both for morning and evening, should be re- 
cited in the family where the minister resided. Though, ac- 
cording to the first book of king Edward, this is not meant 
that any man shall be bound to the saying of it, but such as 
from time to time in cathedral and collegiate churches, par- 
ish churclies, and chapels to the same annexed, shall serve tlie 
congregation. Though these words in that book immediately 
follow the first part of the rubric which relates to the language 
in which the service is to be said ; the two other paragraphs 
discoursed of in this section, being the first inserted in the 
book that was published in 1552. 

Sect. II. — Of Churches ; or places set apart for the perform- 
ance of Divine Worship. 

The public worship of God, being to be per- The necessity of 
formed by the joint concurrence of several JriaS S piace8°for 
people, does not only require a place conve- the p^J^ j or - 
niently capacious for all that assemble together to s np 
perform that worship ; but there must be also some deter- 
minate and fixed place appointed, that so all who belong to 
the same congregation may know whither they may repair 
and meet one another. This reason put even The universal 
the heathens, who were guided by the light of practice of the 
nature, upon erecting public places for the hon- heathens * 
our of their gods, and for their own conveniency, in meeting 
together to pay their religious services and devotions. And 
the patriarchs, by the same light of nature, and the guidance 
of God's holy Spirit, had altars, 8 mountains, 9 and groves, 10 for 

8 Gen. xii. 7, 8. 9 Gen. xxii. 2. 10 Gen. xxi. 33. 

O 



82 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[chap. II, 



Jew that purpose. In the wilderness, where the 
Israelites themselves had no settled habitation, 
they had, by God's command, a moving tabernacle. 11 And 
as soon as they should be fixed in the land of promise, God 
appointed a temple to be built at Jerusalem, 12 which David 
intended, 13 and Solomon performed. 14 And after that was 
demolished, another was built in the room of it; 15 which 
Apostles Christ himself owned for his house of prayer^' 
and which both he and his Apostles frequented 
as well as the synagogues. And that the Apostles after him 
had churches fixed, and appropriate places for the joint per- 
formance of divine worship, will be beyond all dispute, if we 
take but a short survey of the first ages of Christianity. In 
the sacred writings we find more than probable footsteps of 
some determinate places for their solemn conventions, and 
peculiar only to that use. Of this nature was that vwtpoiov, or 
upper room, into which the Apostles and disciples (after their 
return from our Saviour's ascension) went up, as into a place 
commonly known, and separate to divine use. 17 Such a one, 
if not the same, was that one place wherein they were all as- 
sembled with one accord upon the day of Pentecost, when 
the Holy Ghost visibly came down upon them. 18 And this 
the rather, because the multitude (and they too strangers of 
every nation under heaven) came so readily to the place upon 
the first rumour of so strange an accident; which could 
hardly have been, had it not been commonly known to be 
the place where the Christians used to meet together. And 
this very learned men take to be the meaning of the forty- 
sixth verse of the second chapter of the Acts : They con- 
tinued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking 
oread, tear' oJkov, (not, as we render it, from house to house, 
but) at home, as it is in the margin, or in the house, they eat 
their meat with gladness of heart ; i. e. when they had per- 
formed their daily devotions at the temple, at the accustomed 
hours of prayer, they used to return home to this upper room, 
there to celebrate the holy eucharist, and then go to their 
ordinary meals. And Mr. Gregory proves that the upper 
rooms, so often mentioned in Scripture, were places in that 
part of the house which was highest from the ground, set 
apart by the Jews as well as Christians for the performance of 

11 Exod. xxv. &c. 12 Deut. xii. 10, 11. 13 1 Chron. xvii. 1, 2. chap. xxii. 7. 
chap, xxviii. 2. 14 1 Kings vi. 15 Ezra iii. 8, &c. 16 Matt. xxi. 13. 17 Actsi. 13. 
iy Arts ii. 1. 



SECT. II.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



83 



public worship and devotions. 19 However, this interpretation 
of the text seems to be clear and unforced, and the more 
probable, because it follows the mention of their assembling 
together in that one place on the day of Pentecost, which 
room is also called by the same name of house, at the second 
verse of that chapter. And it is not at all unlikely, but that, 
when the first believers sold tlieir houses and lands, and laid 
tlie money at the apostles' feet, to supply the necessities of the 
Church ; some of them might give their houses (at least some 
eminent room in them) for the Church to meet in, and to per- 
form their sacred duties. Which also may be the reason why 
the Apostle so often salutes such and such a person, and the 
Church in his house ; 20 which seems clearly to intimate, that 
in such or such a house (probably in the inrepuov, or upper 
room of it) was the constant and solemn convention of the 
Christians of that place for their joint celebration of divine 
worship. For that this salutation is not used merely because 
their families were Christians, appears from other salutations 
of the same Apostle, where Aristobulus and Narcissus, &c. are 
saluted with their household? 1 And this will be further cleared 
by that famous passage of St. Paul, 22 where taxing the Co- 
rinthians for their irreverence and abuse of the Lord's sup- 
per, one greedily eating before another, and some of them even 
to excess ; What ! says he, have you not houses to eat and 
drink in ? or despise ye the church of God ? Where, that by 
church is not meant the assembly meeting, but the place in 
which they used to assemble, is evident partly from what went 
before, (for their coming together in the church, 2 * is explained 
by their coining together into one placed plainly arguing that 
the Apostle meant not the persons, but the place,) partly from 
the opposition which he makes between the church and their 

i own private houses : if they must have such irregular banquets, 
they had houses of their own, where it was much fitter to have 
their ordinary repasts, than in that place which was set apart 
for the common exercises of religion, and therefore not to be 
dishonoured by such extravagant and intemperate feastings, 
which was no less than despising it. For which reason he 
enjoins them in the close of the chapter, that if any man hun- 

> ger, he should eat at home. And in this sense was this text 
always understood by the ancient Fathers. 25 

19 Observations upon Scripture, chap. 23. 20 Rom. xvi. 3, 5. 1 Cor. xvi. 19. Col. 
iv. 15. Philem. ver. 1,2. ^ Rom. xvi. 10. 11, 14. 2 Tim. iv. 19. 22 1 Cor. xi. 22. 
" 3 1 Cor. xi. 13. 2* 1 Cor. xi. 20. 2 & August. Quaest. 57, in Leviticum, torn. hi. 

G 2 



84 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



Thus stood the case during the times of the 
^chSanX 6 Apostles : as for the ages after them, we find that 
the primitive Christians had their fixed and de- 
finite places of worship, especially in the second century ; as, 
had we no other evidence, might be made good from the 
testimony of the author of that dialogue in Lucian, (if not 
Lucian himself,) who expressly mentions that house or room 
wherein the Christians were wont to assemble together. 28 
And Justin Martyr expressly affirms, that " upon Sunday all 
Christians (whether in town or country) used to assemble to- 
gether in one place;" 27 which could hardly have been done, 
had not that place been fixed and settled. The same we find 
afterwards in several places of Tertullian, who speaks " of their 
coming into the church and house of God ,-" 2S which he else- 
where 29 calls the house of our Dove, i. e. of the Holy Spirit; 
and there describes the very form and fashion of it. And in 
another place, 30 speaking of their going into the water to be 
baptized, he tells us, " They were wont first to go into the 
church, to make their solemn renunciation before the bishop." 
About this time, in the reign of Alexander Severus, the em- 
peror, (who began his reign about the year 222,) the heathen 
historian tells us, 31 that when there was a contest between the 
Christians and vintners about a certain public place, which the 
Christians had challenged for theirs ; the emperor gave the 
cause for the Christians against the vintners, saying, " It was 
much better that God should be worshipped there any ways, 
than that the vintners should possess it." If it be said, that 
" the heathens of those times generally accused the Christians 
for having no temples, and charged it upon them as a piece of 
atheism and impiety ; and that the Christian apologists did not 
deny it ;" the answer depends upon the notion they had of a 
temple ; by which the Gentiles understood the places devoted 
to their gods, and wherein the deities were enclosed and shut 
up ; places adorned with statues and images, with fine altars 
and ornaments. 32 And for such temples as these, they freely 
confessed they neither , had nor ought to have any, for the 
True God did not (as the heathens supposed theirs did) dwell 

col. 516, F. Basil. Moral. Reg. 30, c. 1, torn. ii. p. 437, A. Chrysost. in 1 Cor. xi. 22. 
Horn. 27, torn. iii. p. 419, lin. 40. Theodoret. in eundem locum, toni. iii. p. 175, A. 

20 Philopatr. vol. ii. p. 776. Amstelod. 1687. 27 Apol. I. §. 87, p. 131. ^ De 
Idol. c. 7, p. 88, D. 2J Adv. Valentin, c. 3, p. 251, B. 30 De Corona Milit. c. 3, p. 
102, A. 31 JEl. Lamprid. in Vita Alex. Sever, c. 49, apud Hist. August. Scriptor. p.' 
575. Lugd. Batav. 1661. 32 Minutius Felix, c. 10, p. 61. Arnob. adv. Gentes, ad in- 
itium 1. 6, p. 189, &c. Lactant. Institut. 1. 2, c. 2, p, ] 18 



SECT. II.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



85 



in temples made with hands ; he neither needed, nor could 
possibly be honoured by them : and therefore they purposely 
abstained from the word temple, which is not used by any 
Christian writer for the place of the Christian assemblies, for 
the best part of the first three hundred years. But then those 
very writers, who deny that Christians had any temples, do at 
the same time acknowledge that they had their meeting places 
for divine worship ; their conventicula, as Arnobius calls 
them, 33 when he complains of their being furiously demolished 
by their enemies. 

§. 2. It cannot be thought that in the first ages, Their churches 
while the flames of persecution raged, the Chris- sumptuous and 
tian churches should be very stately and magnifi- magn cen ' 
cent : it were sufficient if they were such as the condition of 
those times would bear ; their splendour increasing according 
to the entertainment Christianity met withal in the world ; 
till, the empire becoming Christian, their temples rose up into 
grandeur and stateliness : as, amongst others, may appear by 
the particular description which Eusebius gives of the church 
of Tyre, 34 and of that which Constantine built at Constantino- 
ple in honour of the Apostles : 35 both which, the historian tells 
us, were incomparably sumptuous and magnificent. 

§. 3. I shall not undertake to describe at large 
the several parts and dimensions of their churches, Th %£em! ° f 
(which varied according to the different times and 
ages,) but only briefly reflect upon such as were most common 
and remarkable, and are still retained amongst us. For the 
form and fashion of their churches, it was for the most part 
oblong, to keep the better correspondence with the fashion of 
a ship ; the common notion and metaphor by which the Church 
was wont to be represented, to remind us that we are tossed 
up and down in the world, as upon a stormy and tempestuous 
sea, and that out of the Church there is no safe passage to 
heaven, the country we all hope to arrive at. It was always 
divided into two principal parts, viz. the nave or body of the 
church, and the sacrarium, since called chancel, 
from its being divided from the body of the church ^y? a S!ed. 
by neat rails, called in Latin cancelli. The nave 
was common to all the people, and represented the visible 
world ; the chancel was peculiar to the priests and sacred 

33 Arnobius adv. Gentes, ad finem 1. 4, p. 152. 34 Eccles. Histor. 1. 10, c. 4, p. 377, 
33 De Vita Const, lib. 4, c. 58, 59, p. 555. 



persons, and typified heaven : for which reason they always 
stood at the east end of the church, towards 
the^east^end of which part of the world they paid a more than 
the church, and ordinary reverence in their worship ; wherein, 
Clemens Alexandrinus 36 tells us, they had respect 
to Christ ; for as the east is the birth and womb of the natural 
day, from whence the sun (the fountain of all sensible light) 
does arise and spring ; so Christ, the true Sun of Righteous- 
ness, who arose upon the world with the light of truth, when 
it sat in the darkness of error and ignorance, is in Scripture 37 
styled the East : and therefore since we must in our prayers 
turn our faces toward some quarter, it is fittest it should be 
towards the east ; especially since it is probable, even from 
Scripture itself, that the majesty and glory of God is in a pe- 
culiar manner in that part of the heavens, and that the throne 
of Christ and the splendour of his humanity has its residence 
there. 33 In this chancel always stood the altar or communion 
table : which none were allowed to approach, but such as were 
in holy orders, unless it were the Greek emperors at Constan- 
tinople, who were allowed to go up to the table to make their 
offerings, but were immediately to return back again. 39 

§. 4. But though the Christians of those times 
ages forbiddenTn spared no convenient cost in founding and adorn- 
Chu?ch mitive * n ° P um "i c places for the worship of God ; yet 
they were careful not to run into a too curious 
and over-nice superstition. No images were worshipped, or 
so much as used, in churches for at least four hundred years 
after Christ : and therefore certainly, might things be carried 
by a fair and impartial trial of antiquity, the dispute about this 
point would soon be at an end. Nothing can be more clear 
than that the Christians were frequently challenged by the 
heathens for having no images nor statues in their churches, 
and that the Christian apologists never denied it, but indus- 
triously defended themselves against the charge, and rejected 
the very thoughts of any such thing with contempt and scorn ; 
as might be abundantly shewn from Tertullian, Clemens Alex- 
andrinus, Origen, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius. 
But I shall only cite one of them, and that is Origen, who, 

3 « Strom. 1. 7, p. 724, C. 37 In Zechariah iii. 8, and chap. vi. 12, the Messiah is 
called the BRANCH; and in Luke i. 78, the DAY-SPRING ; in all which places the 
original words signify the EAST, and are so rendered in all other versions of the Bible. 
3S See Mr. Gregory's Notes and Observations upon Scripture, chap. 18, p. 71, &c. and p. 
4, 5, of his preface, with some other parts of his works printed at London, 1665. 
as Concil. Trull, can. 69, torn. vi. col. 1174, B. 



!SCT. II.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



87 



amongst other things, plainly tells his adversary (who had 
objected this to the Christians) that the images, that were to 
he dedicated to God, were not to be carved by the hands of 
artists, but to be formed and fashioned in us by the word of 
God ; viz. the virtues of justice and temperance, of wisdom 
and piety, &c, that conform us to the image of his only Son. 
" These," says he, " are the only statues formed in our minds ; 
and by which alone we are persuaded it is fit to do honour to 
him, who is the image of the invisible God, the prototype and 
archetypal pattern of all such images." 40 Had Christians then 
given adoration to them, or but set them up in their places of 
worship, with what face can we suppose they could have told 
the world, that they so much abhorred them ? But more than 
this, the Council of Illiberis, that was held in Spain some time 
before Constantine, expressly provides against them ; decree- 
ing, 41 that " no pictures ought to be in the church, nor that 
any thing that is worshipped and adored should be painted 
upon the walls: " words to© clear to be evaded by the little 
shifts and glosses which the expositors of that canon would 
put upon it. The first use of statues and pictures in the 
churches was merely historical, or to add some beauty and 
ornament to the place, which after-ages improved into super- 
stition and idolatry. The first we meet with upon good au- 
thority is no older than the times of Epiphanius, and then too 
met with no very welcome entertainment; as may appear from 
Epiphanius's own Epistle to John, then Bishop of Jerusalem : 42 
where he says, that coming to Anablatha, a village in Pales- 
tine, and going into a church to pray, he espied a curtain 
hanging over the door, whereupon was painted the image of 
Christ, or of some saint ; which when he had looked upon, 
and saw the image of a man hanging up in the church, con- 
trary to the authority of the holy Scriptures, he presently rent 
; it, and ordered the churchwardens to make use of it as a wind- 
, ing-sheet for some poor man's burying. This instance is so 
I home, that the patrons of image-worship are at a loss what to 
say to it, and after all are forced to cry out against it as sup- 
- posititious : though the famous Du Pin, who is himself of the 
Romish communion, and doctor of the Sorbon, allows it to be 
genuine, and owns that one reason of its being called in ques- 
tion, is because it makes so much against that doctrine. 43 

<" Contr. Cels. 1. 8, part 2, p. 521, E. <i Can. 36, torn. i. col. 974. 42 Epiphan. 
torn. ii. p. 317. « H j st . f Ecclesiast. Writers, vol. ii. p. 236. 



88 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



More might be produced to this purpose : but by this, I hope, 
it is clear enough, that the primitive Christians, as they 
thought it sufficient to pray to God without making their ad- 
dresses to saints and angels, so they accounted their churches 
fine enough without pictures and images to adorn them. 

§. 5. And though these afterwards crept in 
SmrchTs requi- again, and became the occasion of idolatry in the 
site and neces- times of popery ; yet our Church at the Reform- 
ation not only forbad the worshipping them, 
but also quite removed them ; as thinking them too false a 
beauty for the house of God. But though she would not let 
religion be dressed in the habit of a wanton, yet she did not 
deny her that of a matron : she would have her modest in her 
garb, but withal comely and clean ; and therefore still allowed 
her enough, not only to protect her from shame and con- 
tempt, but to draw her some respect and reverence too. And 
no man surely can complain, that the ornaments now made 
use of in our churches are too many or too expensive. Good 
men would rather wish that more care was taken of them, 
than there generally seems to be. For sure a decency in this 
regard is conformable to every man's sense, who professes to 
retain any reverence for God and religion. The magnificence 
of the first Jewish temple was very acceptable to God ; 44 and 
the too sparing contributions of the people towards the second 
was what he severely reproved : 45 from whence we may at 
least infer, that it is by no means agreeable to the Divine 
Majesty, that we turn pious clowns and slovens, by running 
into the contrary extreme, and worshipping the Lord, not in 
the beauty, but in the dirt and deformity of holiness. Far 
from us be all ornaments misbecoming the worship of a Spirit, 
or the gravity of a church ; but surely it hath a very ill aspect 
for men to be so sordidly frugal, as to think that well enough in 
God's house, which they could not endure even in the mean- 
est offices of their own. But to return to my first design. 
Churches to he § . 6. When churches are built, they ought to 
fonnai r dedka- * nave a grater value and esteem derived upon 
tion of them to them by some peculiar consecration : for it is not 
Gocu enough barely to devote them to the public ser- 

vices of religion, unless they are also set apart with the solemn 
rites of a formal dedication. For by these solemnities the 
founders surrender all the right they have in them to God, 

1 Kings ix. 3. * 5 Haggai i. and ii. 



SECT. II.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



S9 



and make God himself the sole owner of them. And formerly, 
whoever gave any lands or endowments to the service of God, 
gave it in a formal writing, sealed and witnessed, (as is now 
usual between man and man,) the tender of the gift being 
made upon the altar, by the donor on his knees. The an- 
tiquity of such dedications is evident, from its being an uni- 
versal custom amongst Jews and Gentiles : and it is observ- 
able that amongst the former, at the consecration of both the 
tabernacle and temple, it pleased the Almighty to give a 
manifest sign that he then took possession of them. 46 When 
it was first taken up by Christians is not easy to determine ; 
though there are no footsteps of any such thing to be met 
with, in any approved writer, till the reign of Constantine ; in 
whose time, Christianity being become more prosperous and 
flourishing, churches were every where erected and repaired ; 
and no sooner were so, but, as Eusebius tells us, 47 they were 
solemnly consecrated, and the dedications celebrated with 
great festivity and rejoicing. The rites and ceremonies used 
upon these occasions (as we find in the same author 48 ) were a 
great confluence of bishops and strangers from all parts, the 
performance of divine offices, singing of hymns and psalms, 
reading and expounding the Scriptures, sermons and orations, 
receiving the holy sacrament, prayers and thanksgivings, 
liberal alms bestowed on the poor, and great gifts given to the 
church; and, in short, mighty expressions of mutual love 
and kindness and universal rejoicing with one another. And 
these dedications were always constantly com- 
memorated from that time forward once a year, country g wakes! 
and solemnized with great pomp, and much con- 
fluence of people ; the solemnity usually lasting eight days 
together : 49 a custom observed with us till the twenty-eighth 
year of Henry VIIL, when, by a decree of convocation con- 
firmed by that king, the feast of dedication was ordered to be 
celebrated in all places throughout England on one and the 
same day, viz. on the first Sunday of October.™ Whether 
that feast be continued now in any parts of the kingdom, I 
cannot tell ; for as to the wakes which are still observed in 
many country villages, and generally upon the next Sunday 
that follows the saint's day whose name the church bears, I 
take them to be the remains of the old church holidays, which 

46 Exod. xl. 34. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. ^ Hist. Eccl. 1. 10, c. 3, p. 370. 48 Ibid, 
c t de Vita Const. 1. 4, c. 42, 43, p. 546, &c. 43 Niceph. Cal. Hist. Eccl. 1. S, c. 50, tcnn, 
i. p. 653, B. 50 See Bp. Gibson's Codex, p. 276.' 



90 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



were feasts kept in memory of the saints to whose honour the 
churches were dedicated, and who were therefore called the 

The name of an P atronS °? tne churches. 51 For though all 

gels or saints * I churches were dedicated to none but God, as 
e'mr"hes appears by the grammatical construction of the 

word church, which signifies nothing else but 
the Lord's house ; 52 yet at their consecration they were gener- 
ally distinguished by the name of some angel or saint ; chiefly 
that the people, by frequently mentioning them, might be ex- 
cited to imitate the virtues for which they had been eminent ; 
and also that those holy saints themselves might by that means 
be kept in remembrance. 

Great res ect §' ^* Though I bave already been so long up- 
anTreverence on this head, yet I cannot conclude it, till I have 
thiircnes byfte observed what respect and reverence those primi- 
primitive Chris- tive Christians used to shew in the church, as the 
tians ' solemn place of worship, and where God did 

more peculiarly manifest his presence. And this we find to 
have been very great. " They came into the church (saith 
St. Chrvsostom 53 ) as into the palace of the great King, with 
fear and trembling;" upon which account he there presses 
the highest modesty and gravity upon them. Before their 
going into the church they used to wash, at least their hands, 
as Tertullian probably intimates, 54 and Chrysostom expressly 
tells us, 55 carrying themselves while they were there with the 
profoundest silence and devotion. Nay, so great was the 
reverence they bore to the church, that the emperors them- 
selves, (who otherwise never went without their guard about 
them,) when they went into the church, used to lay down 
their arms, to leave their guard behind them, and to put off 
their crowns ; reckoning that the less ostentation they made 
of power and greatness there, the more firmly the imperial 
majesty would be entailed upon them. 56 Examples, one would 
think, sufficient to excite us to use all such outward testimo- 
nies of respect as are enjoined by the Church, and established 
by the custom of the age we live in, as marks of honour and 
reverence : a duty recommended by Solomon, who charges us 
to look to our feet, when roe go into the house of God ,- 57 be- 

51 See the constitution of Simon Islip, 1362, in Bishop Gibson, p. 2S0, or in Mr. John 
son's Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws. 52 From Kvptanh (which signifies the Lord j 
house) comes Kvre, and by adding letters of aspiration, Chyrch or Church. 53 In Ep. 
nd Hebr. c. ix. Horn. 15, torn. iv. p. 515, lin. ult. 54 De Oratione. c. 11, p. 133, 
5i In Johan. 13, Horn. 72, torn. ii. p. 861, lin. 23. 56 Codex Theodos. lib. 9, tit. <5, 
ieg. 4, torn. iii. p. 363 . 57 Eccles. v. 1. 



SECT. HI.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



01 



ing an allusion in particular to the rite of pulling off the shoes 
used by the Jews, and other nations of the East, when they 
came into sacred places; 58 and is as binding upon us to look 
to ourselves by uncovering our heads, and giving all other ex- 
ternal testimonies of reverence and devotion. 

Sect. III. — Of the Ministers, or persons officiating in Divine 
Service. 

Another thing mentioned in this rubric are The necessity of 
the Ministers ; by whom we are to understand a divine commis- 

- , , . ■ f 7 - sion to qualify a 

those who, being taken from among men, are or- person for any 
daincd for men, in things pertaining to God; an ^^ mcQ ' 
honour which no man taketh to himself, but he that 
is called of God, as was JLaron ,- 59 for the ministerial office is of 
so high a nature, that nothing but a divine commission can quali- 
fy any person for the execution of it. The minis- Firsti from the 
ters of religion are the representatives of God Al- dignity of the of- 
mighty : they are to publish his laws, and to pass fice ltself * 
his pardons, and to preside in his worship. God has committed 
to them the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whosesoever 
sins they remit, they shall be remitted whosesoever sins they 
retain, they shall be retained. They are the stewards of the 
mysteries of God, and the dispensers of his holy word and sa- 
craments : in a word, they are the ambassadws of heaven : 
and on their ministrations the assistances of the Holy Spirit 
and all the graces of a good life depend. All these characters 
and powers are ascribed to them in Scripture ; and consequent- 
ly do sufficiently demonstrate the dignity of their office, and 
are a plain argument that none but God himself can give them 
their commission. For who dares, without the express orders 
of Heaven, undertake an office which includes so many and 
such great particulars ? Should any one take upon him the 
character of an ambassador ; should he offer terms of peace 
to enemies, pretend to naturalize foreigners, and grant par- 
dons, without a commission from the supreme magistrate ; as 
all his acts would be null and void, so he would be highly 
criminal, and liable to the severest punishment. The applica- 
tion is so easy, that the very heathens would never venture to 
officiate in religious matters, without a supposed inspiration 
from heaven, or a previous initiation by those, whom they 
thought intrusted by the Deity for that purpose. 

58 Exod. iii. 5. Josh. v. 15. a » Heb. v. 1, 4. 



92 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. 11 



, Among the Jews none could approach the pre- 

Secondly, from , , , A - 1 i 

the constant sence of God but such as were particularly ap- 
jews. iceofthe pointed by him. When God instituted offerings 
and sacrifices, and the other positive parts of his 
worship, he at the same time set apart a peculiar order of men 
to be the administrators of them. So that the persons who 
were to minister were equally of divine institution with the 
ministrations themselves. Thus Aaron and his sons, and the 
Levites, were consecrated by the express command of God to 
Moses, 60 and had all of them their distinct commissions from 
heaven : and no less than death was the penalty of invading 
their office. 61 Nay, God was more than ordinary jealous of 
this honour, and vindicated it even at the expense of several 
miracles. Thus, when Korah and his company (though Le- 
vites, and consequently nearer to the Lord in holy matters 
than the rest of the congregation) usurped the priest's office ; 
God Almighty miraculously destroyed both them and their as- 
sociates : and their censers were ordered to be beaten into 
broad plates, and fixed on the altar, to be everlasting monu- 
ments of their sacrilege, and a caution to all the children of 
Israel, that none should presume to offer incense before the 
Lord but the seed of Aaron, who alone were commissioned to 
this office. 62 So also Uzzah was by the immediate hand of 
God struck dead on the spot for touching the ark, though he 
did it out of zeal to hinder it from falling ; to shew that no 
pretence of doing God service can justify meddling in holy 
things. 63 Saul, for offering sacrifice, (though he thought him- 
self under a necessity of doing so,) lost his kingdom; 64 and 
king Uzziah, attempting to burn incense before the Lord, was 
judicially smitten with leprosy, and so excluded for ever after, 
not only from all sacred, but even civil society. 65 A plain ar- 
gument, that the sacerdotal is not included in the regal office, 
nor derived from thence, but that, on the contrary, it is of a 
distinct nature and institution. 

And, as St. Jerome rightly observes, 66 " What Aaron and 
his sons and the Levites were in the temple ; such are the 
bishops, presbyters, and deacons in the Christian church." 
These are appointed by God, as those were ; and therefore it 
can be no less sacrilege to usurp their office. Nay, it must 
be far greater ; because the honour of the ministry rises in 
proportion to the dignity of their ministration ; and therefore 

60 Lev. viii. Numb. iii. 5, &c. 61 Numb. iii. 10, and xviii. 7. 62 Numb. xvi. 
63 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. 64 i gam. x yi. 65 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, &c. Sub fine Epis- 

tolae ad Evagrium. 



SECT. III.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



93 



as it cannot be denied, but that realities are more valuable 
than types, and that heaven is better than the land of Canaan ; 
so the sacraments of the Gospel are certainly to be preferred 
before all the offerings and expiations of the law. 

And if we would but consider our Saviour's Thirdly from 
example, we should find that, though he wanted the example of 
no gift to qualify him for this office, as having ourSaviour - 
the divine nature inseparably united to his human, and giving 
sufficient evidence of his abilities, when but twelve years old; 
and though the necessities of mankind called loudly for such 
an instructor, yet he would not enter upon his office till he 
was externally commissioned thereto by the visible descent of 
the Holy Ghost upon him, and by an audible voice from 
heaven, proclaiming him to be the Messiah, when he was 
about thirty years old. All the former part of his life he spent 
in a private capacity ; doubtless to teach us, that no internal 
qualifications, no good end nor intention, can warrant a man's 
exercising any holy function, without a divine commission. 

And we may observe that, though our Saviour Fourthly) from 
had many followers, yet none of them presumed the practice of 
to preach, or baptize, or perform any other sa- the A P 0Stles - 
cred office, till they were particularly commissioned by him. 
He first ordained twelve, that they might be with him ; and 
that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power 
to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils ,■ 67 and afterwards 
the other seventy, which went out upon a like errand, were 
especially appointed by him. 68 So likewise, after his resur- 
rection, when he advanced the eleven to be Apostles, he did 
it in a most solemn manner : first breathing on them, and com- 
municating to them the Holy Ghost ; and then, after he had as- 
sured them of his own authority, he gave them the power of the 
keys, and authority to exercise all the holy offices in the Chris- 
tian Church, and to convey the same authority to others ; 
promising them that he would be always with them and their 
successors, even to the end of the world and ratify and con- 
firm what was done in his name, and agreeable to this com- 
mission. From whence it is plain, that it was our Saviour's 
express will and intention, that all those, who are ministers in 
his Church, should either mediately or immediately derive 
their authority from him. And accordingly we may observe, 
that, in the beginning of Christianity, all those who officiated 

« Mark iii. 14, 15. 68 Luke x. 1. 



94 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC 



[CHAP. II 



in divine matters received their commission either from Christ 
himself, or from apostolical hands, and very commonly from 
both. The seven deacons were constituted by the Apostles ; ey 
and St. Paul and St. Barnabas ordained elders in every church 
which they planted. 70 The other Apostles used the same 
method, as did also their successors after them, as is suffi- 
ciently evident from Scripture and antiquity ; which abund- 
antly proves the necessity of a divine commission, in order 
to the being a minister in the Christian Church. 

The necessity of §• 2 ' If [t be asked > who ma y be trul Y said to 

episcopal ordina- have this divine commission ? we need not doubt 
tlon ' to affirm, that none but those who are ordained 

by such as we now commonly call bishops, can have any au- 
thority to minister in the Christian Church. For that the power 
of ordination is solely lodged in that order, shall be proved 
from the institution of our Saviour, and the constant practice 
of the Apostles. That the power of ordination lodged in the 
Apostles was of divine institution, I suppose no one will ques- 
tion, who reads these words of our Saviour to them, after his 
resurrection ; As my Father sent me, so send I you ,- 71 and 
Lo, lam with you always, even unto the end of the world: n 
from whence it is evident, first, That it was by a divine com- 
mission, that our Saviour ordained or sent his Apostles. Se- 
condly, That, by virtue of the same commission, the Apostles 
were at that time empowered to ordain or send others. And, 
thirdly, That this commission to ordain was always to continue 
in the Christian Church, and to remain in such hands as the 
Apostles should convey it to. From whence it naturally fol- 
lows, that whoever has a power to ordain, must derive it from 
the commission which our Saviour received from God, and 
gave to his Apostles, and was by them conveyed to their suc- 
cessors. The only way then to know in whose hands this 
commission is now lodged, is to inquire what persons were 
appointed by the Apostles to succeed them in this office. Now 
it is plain to any one who will read the Scripture 
orders set apart without prejudice, that there were three distinct 
b° the A ir osS orders °* mm i sters m the Christian Church, in 
y e pos es. ^ e Apostles' days, which were designed to con- 
tinue to the end of the world. For besides those two which 
our adversaries allow, viz. deacons, and presbyters or elders, 
(which latter are also sometimes called bishops,) we read of 

69 Acts vi. 6. "> Acts xiv. 23. »' John xx. 21. « Matt, xxviii. 20. 



SECT. III.J 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



C5 



another order, which were superior to, and had authority over, 
both these: such as were the Apostles, and Timothy and 
Titus, and others. For it is plain from the epistles St. Paul 
wrote to the two last mentioned, that they presided over the 
presbyters. They had power to enforce them to their duty, 
to receive accusations against them, and judicially to pass 
sentence upon them : which abundantly proves their supe- 
riority. And several others were constituted by the Apostles 
to the same office : such were St. James surnamed the Just, 
and Epaphroditus, who were termed Apostles or bishops by all 
antiquity : such doubtless were those whom St. Paul calls 
Apostles of the Churches, and joins with Titus : 73 and such 
also were those Angels of the Churches, mentioned in the 
book of the Revelation. 

Some indeed have been pleased to tell us, that " these 
were extraordinary officers, and so of temporary institution 
only." But this is said without any ground or plausible pre- 
tence. That they were sometimes sent upon extraordinary 
messages, and had a power, upon an occasion, to do extra- 
ordinary things, such as miracles, &cc, is very true : but then 
the same is to be said of the other orders as well as this. 
Philip was only a deacon, and yet God employed him in 
several extraordinary matters. And working of miracles was 
so common in the beginning of Christianity, that ordinary 
Christians were frequently endued with this power. 74 So that, 
if this were an argument for the temporary institution of one 
order, it must be so too for all the rest ; which they, who 
make the objection, dare not say, and therefore acknowledge 
there is no force in it. 

But they further urge, that " Timothy was an evangelist ; 
because St. Paul bids him do the work of an evangelist." 75 
But to this we answer, that an evangelist was no distinct 
officer at any time in the Christian Church. For the proper 
notion of an evangelist in the Acts and St. Paul's Epistles is, : 
one who was eminently qualified to preach the Gospel, and 
had taken great pains therein. Thus Philip was called an 
evangelist, 76 who was no more than a deacon ; and could 
only preach and baptize, and had not the power of laying on 
of hands, which Timothy had : and therefore the office of 
Philip was far inferior to that of Timothy. Whence it is 

w 2 Cor. viii. 23. 74 Mark xvi. 17, 18. Acta x. 46, and xix. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 10, 28. 
6 2 Tim. iv. 5. 78 Acts xxi. 8. 



96 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



evident, that allowing Timothy to be an evangelist, yet his 
power over presbyters did not accrue to him upon that ac- 
count. Nor does Timothy's being an evangelist prove the 
office of ruling and ordaining presbyters to be peculiar to an 
evangelist, any more than Philip's being called an evangelist 
proves the office of preaching and baptizing to be so. 

From what has been said therefore it plainly appears, that 
there were three distinct orders set apart to the ministry by 
the Apostles. Our next inquiry then is, to how many, or to 
which of these, the power of ordination was committed. 
Now that the lowest order (viz. that of deacons) had not this 
power, is by all confessed : and that the highest order (of 
which Timothy and Titus were) had it, we are assured by the 
express testimony of St. Paul. The only ques- 
never invested 6 tion then is, whether the second order (viz. that 
ofordtaatlon 61 °^ P res byters) was ever invested with this power. 

The affirmative of which question can never be 
proved from Scripture or antiquity. For, 

First, It is frivolous to argue from the community of names, 
to the sameness of office. For any reasonable man will grant, 
that the words bishop and presbyter being promiscuously used, 
and mere presbyters being frequently called bishops in Scrip- 
ture, does not prove, that therefore all the powers, which be- 
long to those we now call bishops, were ever lodged in those 
presbyters. The only method, then, to prove that the power 
of ordination belongs to presbyters, is to shew, that whoever 
were in Scripture called by the name of presbyters or bishops 
were invested with that power : which can never be done. 
For if presbyters or elders had the power of ordination lodged 
in them, for what reasons can we suppose that St. Paul should 
leave Titus in Crete on purpose to ordain elders in every city, 
(as he tells him he did, 77 ) when we know that that island had 
been converted to Christianity long before Titus came thither; 
and therefore doubtless had many presbyters among them, to 
preach and administer the sacraments to the inhabitants ? Nor, 

Secondly, Can this be proved from that often quoted pas- 
sage, 78 where St. Paul exhorts Timothy not to neglect the gift 
that was in him, which was given him by prophecy, with the 
laying on of the hands of the presbytery. For, allowing that 
Timothy's ordination is here spoken of, (which yet many learn- 
ed men have questioned,) it is manifest that the Apostles 

" Titus i. 5. 'si Tim, iv. 14. 



SECT, III.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



97 



themselves were often called by the name of presbyters. And 
so the presbyters here mentioned may very probably be the 
Apostles. We are sure that St. Paul was one of them, and that 
he ascribes the whole of Timothy's ordination to his own lay- 
ing on of hands: 79 and therefore the utmost that can be de- 
duced from this text is this, viz. That one or more of such as 
were mere presbyters might lay on their hands in concurrence 
with him, to testify their consent and approbation ; as is the 
custom at this day in the ordination of a presbyter, and has 
been sometimes done at the consecration of a bishop. 80 Nor, 
Thirdly, Can it be inferred from any of the charges or di- 
rections given by St. Paul in his epistles to either bishops or 
presbyters, that they had ever any thing like the power of or- 
dination : which makes it more than probable, that wherever 
the word bishop is found in Scripture, as applied to an eccle- 
siastical officer after our Saviour, the middle order is always 
meant. 81 For though the Apostles are sometimes called pres- 
byters and deacons, yet they are never called bishops. Their 
office is once indeed called kiriaKoir^ i. e. a bishopric : 82 but 
wherever we meet with e-iawToi, i. e. bishops, either in the 
Acts of the Apostles, or the Epistles, we may very well un- 
derstand the middle order, which we now call presbyters. 
And as for those whom we now call bishops, they were, in the 
first age of the Church, styled Apostles. For so St. Paul, 
speaking to the Philippians concerning Epaphroditus, 83 calls 
him his brother and companion in labour, vfiwv Ik a-ooroXor, 
but your apostle ; (for so the word ought to be rendered, and 
not messenger, as in our translation ;) an office which it is 
probable St. Paul ordained him to, when he sent him with 
this Epistle ; for which reason, he charges them to receive him 
in the Lord with all gladness, and to hold such in reputa- 
tion.^ And Epaphroditus is accordingly, by all antiquity, 
reckoned the first bishop of Philippi. So that the apostolical 
office was not temporary, but designed to continue in the 
Church of Christ. And therefore the Apostles took care to 
ordain some to succeed them, who were at first called by the 
same name, though they afterwards in modesty declined so 
high a title ; as is expressly affirmed by Theodoret, who tells 

n 2 Tim. i. 6. «° Vid. Bevereg. in Can. Apost. 1, p. 11, ad fin. col. 2. 81 And 
therefore in the Syriac version of the New Testament, the word err/axon-or is usually 
rendered bv preshvter, and enta/ioni) by presbvteratus. Vide Bevereg. in Can. Apost. 
2, p. 13, col. 1. 82 Acts i. 20. *3 Chap. ii. 25. See also 2 Cor. viii. 23. Gal. i. 19. 
in both which places, by the original word aTtoaToXoi, are to be understood those we 
now call bishops. Phil. ii. 29. 



98 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[chap. n. 



us, 85 " That formerly the same persons were called both pres- 
byters and bishops ; and those now called bishops were then 
called Apostles : but in process of time the name of Apostle 
was left to those Apostles strictly so called, and the name of 
bishops ascribed to all the rest." And Pacianus, a writer in 
the fourth century, affirms the same thing. S6 So that granting 
mere presbyters to be Scripture bishops, which some have so 
earnestly contended for; yet nothing can from thence be in- 
ferred, to prove them to have equal power with those we now 
call bishops, who are successors of a higher order. 

And to what has been said, we might, for further proof, add 
the joint testimony of all Christians for near fifteen hundred 
years together ; and challenge our adversaries to produce one 
instance of a valid ordination by presbyters in all that time. 
Jt seems therefore very strange, that, if presbyters ever had 
the power of ordination, they should so tamely give up their 
right, without any complaint, or so much as leaving any thing 
upon record, to witness their original authority to after ages. 
In short, we have as much reason to believe that the power 
of ordination is appropriated to those we now call bishops, as 
we have to believe the necessary continuance of any one posi- 
tive ordinance in the Gospel. 

And now, (to sum up all that has been said in a few words,) 
a commission to ordain was given to none but the Apostles, 
and their successors. And to extend it to any inferior order, 
is without warrant in Scripture or antiquity. For every com- 
mission is naturally exclusive of all persons, except those to 
whom it is given. So that, since it does not appear, that the 
commission to ordain, which the Apostles received from our 
Saviour, was ever granted to any but such as must be acknow- 
ledged to be of a superior order to that of presbyters, which 
superior order is the same with that of those we now call 
bishops; therefore it follows, that no others have any pre- 
tence thereunto ; and consequently none but such as are 
ordained by bishops can have any title to minister in the 
Christian Church. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Ministerial Ornaments. 

what ornaments The second P art of this rubric is concerning 
are meant in the the ornaments of the church, and the ministers 
rubnc - thereof at all times of their ministrations: 

85 In 1 Tim. iii. 1. torn. iii. p. 473, D. 8r> Pacian. Episc. Barcelonens. ad Sempro- 
nianum de Catholico Nomine. Ep. 1. apud Bibliothec. S. S. Patrum torn. iii. col. 431. 
Paris. 1589 



SECT. III.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



93 



and to know what they are, we must have recourse to the 
Act of Parliament here mentioned, viz. in the second year of 
the reign of king Edward the Sixth which enacts, That 
all and singular ministers, in any cathedral or parish 
church, Sfc, shall, after the feast of Pentecost next coming, 
be bounden to say the mattens, evening song, Sfc, and the 
administration of the sacraments, and all the common and 
open prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the 
said booh, (viz. first book of Edward VI.) and not other or 
otherwise. So that by this Act we are again referred to the 
first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. for the habits 
in which ministers are to officiate ; where there are two ru- 
brics relating to them, one prescribing what habits shall be 
worn in all public ministrations whatsoever, the other relating 
only to the habits that are to be used at the Communion. 
The first is in the last leaf of the book, and runs thus : 

In the saying or singing of mattens, or even-song, baptizing 
and burying, the minister in parish churches and chapels an- 
nexed to the same shall use a surplice. And in all cathedral 
churches and colleges, archdeacons, deans, provosts, masters, 
prebendaries, and fellows, being graduates, may use in the 
choir, besides their surplices, such hoods as pertain to their 
several degrees which they have holden in any university 
within this realm, but in all other places every minister shall 
be at liberty to use any surplice or no. It is also seemly that 
graduates, ivhen they do preach, should use such hoods as per- 
taineth to their several degrees. 

And whenever the bishop shall celebrate the holy Commu- 
nion in the church, or execute any other public ministration ; 
he shall have upon him, beside his rochette, a surplice, or alb, 
and a cope, or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his 
hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain. 

The other rubric that relates to the habits that are to be 
worn by the minister at the Communion, is at the beginning 
of that office, and runs thus : 

Upon the day, and at the time appointed for the ministra- 
tion of the holy Communion, the priest that shall execute the 
holy ministry, shall put upon him the vesture appointed for 
that ministration, that is to say, a white alb plain, with a 
vestment or cope. And where there be many priests or 
deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the priest in the 

h 2 



100 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap 



ministration, as shall be requisite. And shall have upon them 
likewise the vestures appointed for the ministry, that is to say, 
albes with tunicles. 

These are the ministerial ornaments enjoined by our pre- 
sent rubric. But because the surplice is of the most general 
use, and what is most frequently objected against ; I shall 
therefore speak more largely of that, and only give a short 
account of the rest. 

I. As to the name of surplice, which comes 
whysoKdied. fr° m tne Latin superpelliceum, I can give no 
better account of it, than what I can put to- 
gether "from Durand, who tells us it was so called, because 
anciently this garment was put super tunicas pellicas de pel- 
libus mortuorum animalium factas, upon leathern coats, 
made of the hides of dead beasts ; symbolically to represent 
that the offence of our first parents, which brought us under 
a necessity of wearing garments of skin, was now hid and 
covered by the grace of Christ, and that therefore we are 
clothed with the emblem of innocence. 87 But whencesoever 
came the name, the thing certainly is good. 
The antiquity, ^ or ^ ^ e triou ght necessary for princes and 
lawfulness, and magistrates to wear distinct habits, in the ex- 
decency of it. ecu tion of their public offices, to preserve an 
awful respect to their royalty and justice ; there is the same 
reason for a different habit when God's ambassadors publicly 
officiate. And accordingly we find that, under the Law, the 
Jewish priests were, by God's own appointment, to wear de- 
cent sacred vestments at all times ; 88 but at the time of public 
service, they were to have, besides those ordinary garments, 
a white linen ephod. 89 From the Jews it is probable the 
Egyptians learned this custom to wear no other garments but 
only of white linen, looking on that to be the fittest, as being 
the purest covering for those that attended on divine service. 90 
And Philostratus tells us, that the Brachmans, or Indian priests, 
wore the same sort of garments for the same reasons. 91 From 
so divine an original and spreading a practice, the ancient 
Christians brought them into use for the greater decency and 
solemnity of divine service. St. Jerome at one and the same 
time proves its ancient use, and reproves the needless scruples 

87 Durand Rational. 1. 3, c. 1, numb. 10, 11, 12. 88 Exod. xxviii. andxxix. 

89 Exod. xxviii. 4. 1 Sam. ii. 18. 9 ° Apul. in Apol. part 1, p. 64. Paris. 1635. Vid. 
Hieron. in Ezek. xliv. 17, torn. iv. p. 476, D. »i Philostr. Vit. Apol. Tyan. 1. 3, c. 15, 
p. 106. Lipsiae 1709. 



8ECT. IV.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



101 



of such as oppose it. "What offence," saith he, "can it be 
to God, for a bishop or priest, &c. to proceed to the com- 
munion in a white garment ? " 92 The antiquity of it in the 
Eastern Church appears from Gregory Nazianzen, who ad- 
viseth the priests to purity, because " a little spot is soon seen 
111 a white garment." 93 And it is very probable that it was 
used in the Western Church in the time of S. Cyprian ; for 
Pontius, in his account of that Father's martyrdom, says, that 
"there was a bench by chance covered with a white linen 
cloth, so that at his passion he seemed to have some of the en- 
signs of the episcopal honour." 94 From whence we may gather, 
that a white garment was used by the clergy in those times. 

§. 2. The colour of it is very suitable; for it 
aptly represents the innocence and righteousness °white° f 
wherewith God's ministers ought to be clothed. 95 
And it is observable, that the Ancient of Days 96 is represent- 
ed as having garments white as snow ; and that when our 
Saviour was transfigured, his raiment was white as the light ,- 97 
and that whenever angels have appeared to men, they have 
always been clothed in white apparel. 98 

§. 3. The substance of it is linen, for woollen 
would be thought ridiculous, and silk would Wh J n ™n. de 0t 
scarce be afforded : and we may observe, that 
under the Jewish dispensation God himself ordered that 
the priests should not gird themselves with anything that 
caused sweat ; 99 to signify the purity of heart that ought 
to be in those that were set apart to the performance of 
divine service ; for which reason the Jewish ephods were 
linen, 100 as were also most of the other garments which the 
priests wore during their ministrations. 1 The Levites also 
that were singers were arrayed in white linen* and the armies 
that followed the Lamb were clothed in fine linen ,- 3 and to 
the Lamb's wife was granted, that she should be arrayed in 
fine linen white and clean ; for the fine linen is, i. e. repre- 
sents, the righteousness of saints} 

§. 4. As for the shape of it, it is a thing so The shape of it . 
perfectly indifferent, that it admits of no dispute. 
The present mode is certainly grave and convenient, and, in 

92 Adv. Pelag.l. 1, c. 9, torn. ii. p. 565, F. G. 33 Orat. 31, torn. i. p. 504, A. 9 * Pont. 
Diac. in Vita S. Cyprian, p. 9, prsefix. operibus Cyprian. 95 Psalm cxxxii. 9. 

9fi Daniel 9. 97 Matt. xvii. 2. ^ Matt, xxviii. 3. Mark xvi. 5. Acts l. 10. 
Rev. vi. 11. vii. 9. xv. 6. xix. 8, 14. Ezek. xliv. 18. 100 1 Sam. ii. 18. 1 Lev. 
yi, 4. Ezek. xliv. 17, 18. 2 2 Chron. v. 12. 3 Rev. xix. 14. * Rev. xix. 8. 



102 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[chap. h. 



the opinion of Durand, significant; who observes, that as the 
garments used by the Jewish priesthood were girt tight about 
them, to signify the bondage of the law ; so the looseness of 
the surplices, used by the Christian priests, signifies the free- 
dom of the gospel. 5 

§. 5. But neither its significance nor decency 
0bJ S weied S an " will protect it from objections: for first, some 
tell us, "it is a rag of popery:" an objection 
that proves nothing but the ignorance of those that make it : 
for white garments (let them be called what they will) were of 
use amongst the most primitive Christians. Nor need our 
adversaries do the Church of Rome a greater kindness, or 
wound the protestant religion more deeply, than by granting 
that white garments and popery are of the same antiquity. 

They tell us, secondly, that " it has been abused by the 
papists to superstitious and idolatrous uses." But to this we 
answer, That it is not the priest's using a surplice, that either 
makes their worship idolatrous or superstitious, or increases 
the idolatry or superstition of it. For the worship of the Ro- 
man Church is idolatrous and superstitious, whether the priest 
be clothed in white, or black, or any other colour. All there- 
fore that our adversaries can mean is this, viz. that the sur- 
plice has been worn by the papists, when they have practised 
idolatry and superstition : and this we grant : but then it does 
not follow, that a surplice of itself is either unlawful or inex- 
pedient. For white garments had, in this sense, been abused 
to superstitious and idolatrous uses, before Daniel represented 
God himself as wearing such garments ; and before our 
Saviour wore them ; and before the angels and saints were 
represented as clothed with them ; and before they became 
the ministerial ornaments of the primitive times. But surely, 
if such an abuse made them unlawful or inexpedient, it can- 
not be conceived, that the primitive Church, and the inspired 
writers, nay, God himself, would so plainly countenance 
them. 

of the hood ^ ext *° tne sxirplice, that which is of most 

e 00 ' frequent use in the celebration of divine service 
is the hood, or the habit denoting the degree which the person 
officiating has taken in the university. This in Latin is called 
caputium or cucullus ; though of the two names the latter 
seems to be the more proper and ancient. For the cucullus 

5 Rational Divin. Offic. 1. 3, c. 3, numb. 3, fol. 67. 



SECT. IV.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBEIC. 



103 



was a habit among the ancient Romans, being a 

coarse covering for the head, broad at one end By ^°™ first 

for the head to go in, and then lessening gradually 

till it ended in a point. 6 

§. 2. From the Romans the use of it was taken 
up by the old monks and ascetics ; who, as soon W monks d &c. the 
as they began in the church, made choice of this 
habit as suitable to that strict reservedness which they pro- 
fessed. For when this was drawn over their faces, it at once 
prevented them from gazing at others, or being stared at 
themselves. And as the several orders of monks grew up, 
there was hardly any one of them but had the hood or cowl, 
only a little varied in the cut or fashion of it. But generally 
it weEs contrived so, that in cold or wet weather it might be a 
covering to the head ; or at other times, when they pleased, 
they might let it fall back behind them, hanging upon their 
neck by the lower end, after the same manner as it now is 
generally used with us. 

§. 3. After this it came to be used by the Why used in 
several members of cathedral churches and col- cathedrals and 
leges, though they were not allowed to have the universities - 
same sort of hoods as the monks. And from these the uni- 
versities took the use of it, to denote the difference of degrees 
among their members ; varying the materials, colour, and 
fashion of it, according to the degree of the person that wears 
it. And that these academical honours (which always entitle 
those they are conferred upon to the greater respect and esteem 
of the people) might be known abroad as well as in the univer- 
sities; the Church enjoins (both by this rubric and her 
canons 7 ) that every minister, who is a graduate, shall wear 
his proper hood during the time of divine service, but forbid- 
ding all that are not graduates to wear it, under pain of sus- 
pension ; allowing them, in the room of it, to wear upon their 
surplices some decent tippet of black, so it be not silk. 8 

III. The next ministerial ornament the rubric . .. 

, ...... , . . , i • Of the rochette. 

above cited enjoins is the rochette, a linen habit 
peculiar to the bishop, and worn under what we call the chi- 
mere. The author of the acts of St. Cyprian's martyrdom says, 
that the Father went to his execution in his pontifical habit ; 9 
but whether this seems probable, I shall leave the reader to 

6 Martial, lib. 5, Epigr. 14, lin. C. Juvenal. Sat. 8, v. 145. * Can. 17, 25, 58. 

• Can. 58. » Vid. Baronius's Annals, ami. 2G), §. 40, 41. 



104 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



judge : however, it is certain the use of it is ancient, it being 
described by Bede in the seventh century. 10 In the follow- 
ing ages the bishops were obliged, by the canon law, to wear 
their rochettes whenever they appeared in public : 11 which 
practice was constantly kept up in England till the Reforma- 
tion ; but since that time the bishops have not used to wear 
them at any place out of the Church, except in the parliament 
house, and there always with the chimere, orup- 
e c lmere. ro be, to which the lawn sleeves are generally 
sewed ; which before and after the Reformation, till queen 
Elizabeth's time, was always of scarlet silk; but bishop 
Hooper scrupling first at the robe itself, and then at the colour 
of it, as too light and gay for the episcopal gravity, it was 
changed for a chimere of black satin} 2 
of the aib ^ ' The other things prescribed and enjoined 

by the forementioned rubrics (though now grown 
obsolete and out of use) are the alb, the cope, the tunicle, 
and the pastoral staff. The alb was a very ancient habit worn 
by ministers in the administration of the communion, and 
appears by the description given of it by Durand, 13 to have 
been a kind of linen garment, made fit and close to the body 
like a cassock, tied round the middle with a girdle, or sash, 
with the sleeves either plain like the sleeves of a cassock, or 
else gathered close at the hands like a shirt sleeve ; being 
made in that fashion, I suppose, for the conveniency of the 
minister, and to prevent his being hindered in the consecra- 
tion and delivery of the elements, by its being too large and 
open. They were formerly embroidered with various colours, 
and adorned with fringes ; u but these our Church does not 
admit of, though it still enjoins a white alb plain. 

V. Over this alb, the priest that shall execute 
° f l ^cSl mmt the hoI V ministry, (i. e. consecrate the elements,) 
is to wear a. vestment or cope,- 1 ' which the bishop 
also is to have upon him when he executes any public minis- 
tration. This answers to the colobium used by the Latin, and 
the aatcKOQ used by the Greek Church. It was at first a com- 
mon habit, being a coat without sleeves, but afterwards used 
as a church vestment, only made very rich by embroidery and 
the like. The Greeks say it was taken up in memory of that 

10 Bede de Tahernac. citat. ah Almario, in Bihlioth. Patr. 1. 10, p. 3S9. » De- 
cretal. 1. 3, tit. 1, cap. 15. 12 See Hody's History of Convocat. p. 141. 13 Durand 
Rational, lib. 3, cap. 3, fol. 67. See also Dr. Watts, in his Glossary at the end of his 
edition of Matthew Paris. 14 Durand, ut supra. 1 5 See also Can. 24. 



SECT. IV.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



105 



mock robe which was put upon our Saviour. How true this 
may be I shall not inquire, but only observe, that it seems 
prescribed to none but the bishop, and the priest that conse- 
crates the elements at the sacrament. Thus the Copes when and 
twenty-fourth canon of our Church only orders, by whom to be 
that the principal minister (when the holy com- worn> 
munionis administered in all cathedral and collegiate churches) 
use a decent cope, and be assisted with an epistler and gos- 
peler agreeably, according to the advertisements published, 
anno 7 Elizabeths : which advertisements order, that at all 
other prayers no copes be used, but swplices. 16 

VI. The priests and deacons that assist the 
minister in the distribution of the elements, in- ° f the tumcle - 
stead of copes, are to wear tunicles, which Durand 17 describes 
to have been a silk sky-coloured coat made in the shape of a 
cope. 

VII. The pastoral staff (though now grown 

out of use) is yet another thing expressly enjoined of the st aff. toral 
by the above-cited rubric. It is peculiar indeed 
to the bishop alone, but expressly ordered to be used by him, 
as an ensign of his office, at all public administrations. It was 
made in the shape of a shepherd's crook, and was for many 
ages, even till after the Reformation, 18 constantly given to the 
bishop at his consecration, to denote that he was then consti- 
tuted a shepherd over the flock of Christ. 19 

These are the ministerial ornaments and habits These habits &c. 
enjoined by our present rubric, in conformity to offensive to Cai- 
the first practice of our Church immediately after vm an ucer * 
the Reformation ; though at that time they were so very offen- 
sive to Calvin and Bucer, that the one in his letters to the 
Protector, and the other in his censure of the English Liturgy, 
which he sent to archbishop Cranmer, urged very vehemently 
to have them abolished ; not thinking it tolerable to have any 
thing in common with the papists, but esteeming every thing 
idolatrous that was derived from them. 

However, they made shift to accomplish the And disconti 
end they aimed at, in procuring a further reform n ued intne se- 
of our Liturgy : for in the review that was made JJ^J vJ k of Ed " 
of it in the fifth of Edward VI., amongst other 
ceremonies and usages, these rubrics were left out, and the 
following one put in their place, viz. 

16 Bp. Sparrow's Collection, p. 125. n Rational. 1. 3, c. 10, fol. 73. 18 See the 
first oroinal, compiled A. D. 1549. 19 Durand, 1. 3, c. 15, fol. 77, &c 



106 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



And here it is to be noted, that the minister, at the time of 
the Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall 
use neither alb, vestment, or cope ; but being archbishop or 
bishop, he shall have and wear a rochette ; and being a priest 
or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only.- 
But restored But * n tne next rey i ew under queen Elizabeth, 

again by queen the old rubrics were again brought into authority, 
Elizabeth. an( j g0 jj ave continued ever since ; being estab- 
lished by the Act of Uniformity that passed soon after the 
Restoration. 

VIII. I must observe still further, that among 
upon tKitar. other ornaments of the church then in use, there 

were two lights enjoined by the injunctions of 
king Edward VI. (which injunctions were also ratified by the 
act of parliament here mentioned) to be set upon the altar, as 
a significant ceremony to represent the light which Christ's 
Gospel brought into the world. And this too was ordered by 
the very same injunction which prohibited all other lights and 
tapers, that used to be superstitiously set before images or 
shrines, 21 &c. And these lights, used time out of mind in the 
Church, are still continued in most, if not all, cathedral and 
collegiate churches and chapels, so often as divine service is 
performed by candle-light ; and ought also, by this rubric, to 
be used in all parish churches and chapels at the same times. 

IX. To this section we might also refer the 
raentfen'joine'd. pulpit-cloth, cushions, coverings for the altar, &c, 

and all other ornaments used in the church, and 
prescribed by the first book of king Edward VI. 

Sect. V. — Of the place appointed for the reading of Morning 

and Evening Prayer. 
Of the place The reader may observe, that, in the second 

SdTven'in"™ 5 section of this chapter, I have only treated of 
prayer is to°be churches in general, and the necessity of having 
said ' appropriate places for the performance of divine 

worship, and have not taken any notice of the particular place 
in the church where morning and evening prayer is to be used- 
The appointment of which was yet the chief design of the 
Ail divine ser- nrst P art °f our present rubric. For in the first 
vice performed at book of king Edward VI. all the rubric relating 
erst m the choir. tQ this matter wag on j y one at the beginning of 

s< » Rubric before the beginning of Morning Prayer, in the second Common Prayer 
Rook of king Edward VI. 21 Sparrow's Collection, p. 2, 3. 



SECT. IV.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



107 



morning prayer, which ordered the priest, being in the choir, 
to begin, with a loud voice, the Lord's Prayer, called the 
Pater -nosier, with which the morning and evening service 
then began. So that then it was the custom for the minister 
to perform divine service (i. e. morning and evening prayer, 
as well as the communion-office) at the upper end of the choir 
near the altar ; towards which, whether standing or kneeling, 
he always turned his face in the prayers ; though whilst he 
was reading the lessons he turned to the people. This practice cia- 
Against this, Bucer, by the direction of Calvin, moured against 
most grievously declaimed ; urging, that " it was b> Bucer - 
a most antichristian practice for the priest to say prayers only 
in the choir, as a place peculiar to the clergy, and not in the 
body of the church among the people, who had as much right 
to divine worship as the clergy themselves." He therefore 
strenuously insisted, " that the reading divine service in the 
chancel was an insufferable abuse, and ought immediately to 
be amended, if the whole nation would not be guilty of high 
treason against God."" This terrible outcry A nd altered 
(however senseless and trifling) prevailed so far, upon his com- 
that when the Common Prayer Book was altered pja * nt - 
in the fifth year of king Edward, this following rubric was 
placed in the room of the old one ; viz. The Morning and 
Evening Prayer shall be used in such places of the church, 
chapel, or chancel, and the minister shall turn him, as the 
■people may best hear. And if there be any controversy 
"therein, the matter shall be referred to the ordinary, and he 
or his deputy shall appoint the place P 

This alteration caused great contentions, some -^vhich caused 
kneeling one way, some another, though still great comen- 
keeping in the chancel : whilst others left the tlons ' 
accustomed place, and performed all the services in the body 
of the church amongst the people. For the appeasing of this 
strife and diversity, it was thought fit, when the English ser- 
vice was again brought into the church, at the accession of 
queen Elizabeth to the throne, that the rubric 

\ , , , , , „ Till the custom 

should be corrected, and put into the same form was again restor- 
in which we now have it ; viz. That the Morning g^aSSErtJ 
and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accus- 
tomed place of tlte church, chapel, or chancel ; by which for 

« Vide Bucer. Cens. c. 1. p. 457. ^ Rubric before the beginning of Morning 
Prayer, ir. the second book of king Edward. 



108 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 



[CHAP. II. 



the generality must be meant the choir or chancel, which was 
the accustomed place before the second Common Prayer 
Book of king Edward. For it cannot be supposed, that this 
second book, which lasted only one year and a half, could 
establish a custom. However, a dispensing power was left 
to the ordinary, who might determine it otherwise, if he saw 
just cause. 

The original of Pursuant to this rubric, the morning and 
readingpews or evening service was again, as formerly, read in 
the chancel or choir. But because in some 
churches the too great distance of the chancel from the body 
of the church, occasioned sometimes by the interposition of a 
belfry, hindered the minister from being heard distinctly by 
the people ; therefore the bishops, at the solicitations of their 
inferior clergy, allowed them in several places to supersede 
their former practice, and to have desks, or reading pews, in 
the body of the church, where they might, with more ease to 
themselves, and greater convenience to the people, perform 
the daily morning and evening service. Which dispensation, 
begun at first by some few ordinaries, and recommended by 
them to others, grew by degrees to be more general, till at 
last it came to be an universal practice : insomuch that the 
convocation, in the beginning of king James the First's reign, 
ordered, that in every church there should be a convenient 
seat made for the minister to read service in. 2i And this 
being almost threescore years before the restoration of king 
Charles II., (at which time the last review of the Common 
Prayer was made,) it is very probable, that when they con- 
tinued this rubric, they intended the desk or reading pew 
should be understood by the accustomed place for reading 
prayers. And what makes this the more likely, is a rubric 
at the beginning of the communion, which expressly mentions 
a reading pew, and seems to suppose one in every church. 
It is true, indeed, another rubric at the beginning of the 
Communion-office (which orders the table, at the communion- 
time, to stand in the body of the church or chancel, where 
morning and evening prayer are appointed to be said) 
seems to have an eye to the old practice of reading prayers in 
the choir. But this rubric being the same that we have in 
king Edward's second Common Prayer Book, may perhaps 
have slipt into the present book through the inadvertency of 

81 See Canon 82. 



SECT. V.] 



OF THE FIRST RUBRIC 



109 



the reviewers, who might not probably just then consider, 
that custom had shifted the place for the performance of the 
daily service into another part of the church. Though were 
it certain that this rubric was continued in the last review, to 
authorize the old way of reading the prayers in the choir, in 
such places as had still retained that custom ; yet since the 
ordinaries have a dispensing power, and they have approv.ed 
of the alteration that has been made in the introducing of 
desks ; it seems as regular now to perform divine service in 
them, as it was formerly to do it in the chancel or choir. 

§. 2. The occasion of the latter part of this 
rubric relating to chancels, was also another of main C as S they re " 
Bucer's cavils ; who in his censure of our Liturgy, J 1 ^^ ^ in 
in the same place that he complains of the read- 
ing prayers in the choir, inveighs as vehemently against the 
separation of the choir from the body of the church. This too 
he calls " an antichristian practice, tending only to gain too 
great reverence to the clergy, who would hereby seem nearer 
related to God than the laity. That in ancient times churches 
were built in a round form, and not in a long one like ours, 
and that the place for the clergy was always in the middle ; 
and that therefore our division of the chancels from the 
churches was another article of treason against God." This 
objection, discovering an equal share of ignorance and ill- 
nature, seems to have obtained no greater regard than the 
raillery deserved. For in the review of the Liturgy of the 
fifth of king Edward, instead of an order to pull down the 
chancels, as undoubtedly this mighty reformer expected, a 
clause was added at the end of the first rubric to prevent any 
alteration, expressly enjoining, that the chancels should re- 
main as they had done in times past. There was afterwards 
indeed a greater occasion for the continuance of this rubric ; 
when a tumultuous rabble, encouraged by the complaints that 
they had found had been made by this same Bucer, and his 
director Calvin, 25 proceeded to demolish both chancels and 
altars, pulling down the rails and frames that divided them 
from the rest of the church, and divesting them of all the 

25 Mr. Calvin (who was before thought by some to have offered his assistance too 
officiously for carrying on the Reformation in England, and who with relation to our 
Church had used some very hard expressions, not so well becoming the mouth of a 
divine) warns Martin Bucer, in a letter he sent to him just before his coming into 
England, against being the author or approver of middle counsels : by which words he 
plainly strikes at the moderation observed in the English Reformation— Dr. Nichols's 
1 ntroduction to his Defence of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England. 



110 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[cbap. m. 



ornaments that but seemed to intimate them to be more than 
ordinary sacred. But this will fall more directly under my 
consideration hereafter, when I come to treat of the situation 
of the altar, to which the rubric in the beginning of the com- 
munion-office will lead me. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE ORDER FOR MORNING AND EVENING 
PRAYER DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

That the primitive Christians, besides their 
5S e any r daiiy e solemn service on Sundays, had public prayers 
service m the every morning and evening daily, has already 
Church? 3 been hinted upon a former occasion : 1 but a 

learned gentleman is of the opinion, that this 
must be restrained to times of peace ; and that during the 
time of public persecution they were forced to confine their 
religious meetings to the Lord's day only. 2 And it is certain 
that Pliny 3 and Justin Martyr, 4 who both describe the manner 
of the Christian worship, do neither of them make mention 
of any assembly for public worship on any other day : so that 
their silence is a negative argument that in their time there 
was no such assembly, unless perhaps some distinction may 
be made between the general assembly of both city and 
country on the Lord's day, and the particular assemblies of 
the city Christians (who had better opportunities to meet) on 
other days : which distinction we often meet with in the fol- 
lowing ages, when Christianity was come to its maturity and 
perfection. However, it was not long after Justin Martyr's 
time, before we are sure that the Church observed the cus- 
tom of meeting solemnly on Wednesdays and Fridays, to 
celebrate the communion, and to perform the same service as 
on the Lord's day itself, unless perhaps the sermon was 
wanting. 5 The same also might be shewed from as early 
authorities in relation to the festivals of their martyrs and the 

1 Chap. 2, Sect. 1, p. 80, 81. 2 Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 13, ch. 9, sect. L 
vol. v. p. 281, &c. 3 L. 10, ep. 97. 4 Apol. 1, c. 87, p. 13], and c. 89, p. 132. 
5 Tertul. de ©rat. c. 14. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



Ill 



whole fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide. 6 ft or need 
we look down many years lower, before we meet with express 
testimony of their meeting every day for the public worship 
of God. For St. Cyprian tells us, that in his time it was 
customary to receive the holy eucharist every day : a plain 
demonstration that they had every day public assemblies, 
since we know the eucharist was never consecrated but in 
such open and public assemblies of the Church. 7 
S. 2. That these daily devotions consisted of 

3 n • The order of 

an evening as well as a morning service, even their morning 
from St. Cyprian's time, the learned author I and evening 

^ J service. 

just now referred to 8 endeavours to prove. 
However, in a century or two afterwards, the case is plain ; 
for the author of the Constitutions not only speaks of it, but 
gives us the order of both the services. 9 The morning ser- 
vice, as there described, began with the sixty-third, which 
was therefore called the morning psalm. Immediately after 
which followed the prayers for the catechumens, for those 
that were possessed, for the candidates for baptism, and the 
penitents, which made the general service on the Lord's day, 
and which were partly performed by the deacon's irpo<j§uvr\aiQ, 
or bidding of prayer, something like our present Litany, but 
only directed to the people, and instructing them for what 
and for whom they were to offer their petitions ; and partly 
by the bishop's invocation over them, pronounced as they 
bowed down to receive his blessing before their dismission. 
After these were dismissed, followed prayers for the peace of 
the whole world, and for all orders of men in the Church, 
with which the communion-service was begun on the Lord's 
day ; and at which none but those who had a right to com- 
municate were allowed to be present. After this followed 
another short bidding prayer for peace and prosperity the en- 
suing day ; which was immediately succeeded by the bishop's 
commendatory prayer, or morning thanksgiving ; 10 which 
being ended, the deacon bid them bow their heads, and re- 
ceive the bishop's solemn benediction ; which after they had 
done, he dismissed the congregation with the usual form, De- 
part in peace: the word for dismissing every Church assembly. 
This is the order of the morning service, as described by 

Tertul. de Idololat. c. 14, de Coron. Mil. c. 3. 7 Cypr. de Orat. Domin. p. 147. 
8 Bingham, ut supra, §. 7. p. 302. 9 Const. Apost. 1, 8, c. 37. i° Uvx^P^Tia 'OpfyxvJj, 
Const. 1. 6, c. 38. 



112 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. lit. 



the Constitutions ; to which the evening service, as there also 
set down, is in most things conformable. The prayers for 
the catechumens, the possessed, the candidates for baptism, 
and the penitents, were all the same ; so also were those for 
the peace of the world, and the whole state of the Catholic 
Church. So that all the difference between them was this, 
viz that they used the hundred and forty-first psalm at even- 
ing instead of the sixty-third, which they used in the morning ; 
and instead of the bidding prayer for peace and prosperity, 
and the bishop's commendatory prayer in the morning ser- 
vice, two others were used in the afternoon more proper to 
the evening, and which for that reason were called the 
evening bidding prayer, and the evening thanksgiving. The 
bishop's benediction, too, at the conclusion of the whole, 
was different from that which was used in the forenoon : but 
excepting in these two or three particulars, both services 
were one and the same ; and in the evening, as well as the 
morning, the congregation was dismissed with the constant 
form pronounced by the deacon, Depart in peace. The 
reader, that is curious to see more of these forms, may consult 
the learned Mr. Bingham, who transcribes most of them at 
large, and compares the several parts of them with the memo- 
rials and accounts that are left us by other ancient writers of 
the Church : in which place he also takes occasion to shew, 
that though in the form in the Constitutions there is but one 
psalm appointed either at morning or evening ; yet from other 
rituals it is plain, that it was customary in most places to re- 
cite several of the psalms, and to mix lessons along with them, 
both out of the Old Testament and the New, for the edifica- 
tion of the people. 11 But this is what I have not room to do 
here ; and indeed there is the less occasion, as it will come in 
my way to speak of these points more largely hereafter, as the 
order of the service I am now entering upon will lead me. 

Sect. I. — Of the Sentences. 

Why placed at Prayer requires so much attention and seren- 
the beginning of ity of mind, that it can never be well performed 
without some preceding preparation : for which 
reason, when the Jews enter into their synagogues to pray, 
they remain silent for some time, and meditate before whom 
they stand: 12 and the Christian priest, in the primitive ages, 

11 See Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, vol. v. book 13, chap. 11, 12. i 2 Buxtorf. Synag. 
Judaic, cap. 10, p. 194. Basil. 1661. 



sect. ii. in.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAY 



prepared the people's hearts to prayer by a devout preface. 13 
The first book of king Edward indeed begins with the Lord's 
prayer : but when they came to review it afterwards, and to 
make alterations, they thought that too abrupt a beginning, and 
therefore prefixed these sentences, with the following exhort- 
ation, confession, and absolution, as a proper introduction, to 
bring the souls of the congregation to a spiritual frame, and to 
prepare them for the great duty they are just entering upon. 
The sentences are gathered out of Scripture, that so we may 
not dare to disobey them ; since they come from the mouth of 
that God whom we address ourselves to in our prayers, and who 
may justly reject our petitions, if we hearken not to his word. 

§.2. As to the choice of them, the reverend 
compilers of our Liturgy have selected such as The t hem! e ° f 
are the most plain and the most likely to bring all 
sorts of sinners to repentance. There are variety of disposi- 
tions, and the same man is not always in the same temper. 
For which reason they have collected several, and left it to 
the discretion of him that ministereth, to use such one or more 
of them every day, as he shall judge agreeable to his own, or 
his people's circumstances. 

Sect. II. — Of the Exhortation. 
The design of the exhortation is to apply and 
set home the preceding sentences, and to direct th^exiforStira. 
us how to perform the following confession. It 
collects the necessity of it from the word of God ; and when 
it hath convinced us of that, it instructeth us in the right man- 
ner, and then invites us to that necessary duty, for which it 
hath so well prepared us. And for our greater encouragement, 
the minister (who is God's ambassador) offers to accompany 
us to the throne of grace, knowing his Master will be glad to 
see him with so many penitents in his retinue. And he 
promises that he will put words in our mouths, and speak with 
us and for us ; only we must express the humility of our 
minds by the lowliness of our bodies, and declare our assent 
to every sentence by repeating it reverently after him. 

Sect. III. — Of the Confession. 
The holy Scriptures assure us, that sin unre- The confession, 
pented of hinders the success of our prayers; 14 why placed at the 

W Cypr. de Orat. Dom. p. 152. M l sa . i. 15. John ix. 31. 



OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. nr. 



beginning of the and therefore such as would pray effectually have 
prayers. always begun with confession ; 15 to the end that, 

their guilt being removed by penitential acknowledgments, 
there might no bar be left to God's grace and mercy. For 
which reason the Church hath placed this confession at the 
beginning of the service, for the whole congregation to re- 
peat after the minister, that so we may first be witnesses o 
each other's confession, before we unite in the following ser 
vice. And this, as we learn from St. Basil, is consonant to 
the practice of the primitive Christians ; " who (he tells us) 
in all churches, immediately upon their entering into the house 
of prayer, made confession of their sins to God, with much 
sorrow, concern, and tears, every man pronouncing his own 
confession with his own mouth." 16 

§. 2. As to the form itself, it is blamed by 
A answered° n our sectaries for being too general: and yet it 
is so particular, as to contain all that can be ex- 
pressed. It begins with an acknowledgment of our original 
corruption in the wicked devices and desires of our hearts, 
and then descends to actual guilt, which it divides into sins 
of omission and commission, under which two heads all sins 
whatever must necessarily be reduced. So that every single 
person, who makes this general confession with his lips, may 
at the same time mentally unfold the plague of his own heart, 
his particular sins, whatever they be, as effectually to God, 
who searches the heart, as if he enumerated them in the most 
ample form. And indeed had this form been more particular 
or express, it would not so well have answered the end for 
which it was designed : for a common confession ought to be 
so contrived, that every person present may truly speak it as 
his own case; whereas a confession drawn up according to 
the mind of the objectors, would be but little less than an in- 
quisition, forcing those that join in it to accuse and condemn 
themselves of those sins daily, which perhaps they never 
committed in their lives. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Absolution. 
The congregation being now humbled by the 
H °used a here? ly preceding confession, may justly be supposed to 
stand in need of consolation. And therefore 



» 



1 5 Ezra ix. 5, 6. Dan. ix. 4, 5. 16 Basil, ad Clerum Neocsesariens. Ep. 63. torn. ii. 
p. 843, D. 



SFCT. IV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



115 



since God has committed to his ambassadors the ministry of 
reconciliation? 1 they can never more seasonably exercise it 
than now. For this reason the priest immediately rises from 
his knees, and standing up, as with authority, declares and 
pronounces for their comfort and support, that God, who de- 
sires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn 
from his wickedness and lice, pardoneth and absolveth all 
them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy 
Gospel. 

§. 2. Now whether this be only a declaration 
of the condition, or terms, whereupon God is 0f ^effect?** 
willing to pardon sinners; or whether it be an 
actual conveyance of pardon, at the very instant of pro- 
nouncing it, to all that come within the terms proposed, is a 
question that is often the subject of dispute. "With the ut- 
most deference therefore to the judgment of those who are 
of a different opinion, I beg leave to declare for the last of 
these senses : not that I ascribe any judicial power or au- 
thority to the priest to determine the case of a private man, 
so as to apply God's pardon or forgiveness directly to the 
conscience of any particular or definite sinner ; (my notion 
as to this will be seen hereafter ; 18 ) nor do I suppose that the 
priest, when he pronounces this form, can apply the benefit 
of it to whom he pleases ; or that he so much as knows upon 
whom, or upon how many, it shall take effect ; but all that I 
contend for is only this, viz. that since the priest has the 
ministry of reconciliation™ committed to him by God, and 
hath both power and commandment (as it is expressed in 
this form) to declare and pronounce to his people, being 
penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins „• there- 
fore, when he does, by virtue of this power and command- 
ment, declare and pronounce such absolution and remission 
regularly in the congregation ; those in the congregation that 
truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's holy Gospel, 
(though the priest does not know who or how many they are 
that do so,) have yet their pardon conveyed and sealed to 
them at that very instant through his ministration ; it being 
the ordinary method of God with his Church, to commu- 
nicate his blessings through the ministry of the priest. 

K 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 18 See chap. 2, concerning the Order for the Visitation of the 
Bick, sect. 5. For the consistency of my notions in both these places, I must beg the 
reader to turn at the same lime to what I have said in the preface. w 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 

i 2 



116 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. in. 



I am sensible that this is carrying the point higher than 
many that have delivered their judgments before me. Even 
the learned translator of St. Cyprian's works, who contends 
that this is an authoritative form, yet explains himself to 
mean nothing more by authoritative, than that it is " an act 
of office warranted by God, and pursuant to the commission 
which the priest hath received for publishing authoritatively 
the terms of pardon at large and in general, and then for pro- 
nouncing by the same authority, that when those terms are 
fulfilled, the pardon is granted." 20 But this explanation 
seems only to make it an authoritative declaration, and not 
to suppose (as, with submission to this gentleman, I take both 
the rubric and form to imply) that it is an effective form, 
conveying as well as declaring a pardon to those that are duly 
qualified to receive it. My reasons for this I shall have 
another occasion to give immediately : for though what this 
learned gentleman asserts does not come up to my notion of 
the form ; yet it is a great deal more than another learned 
author is willing to allow ; who does not seem to think the 
form to be authoritative in any sense at all, or that there is 
any need of a commission to pronounce it. For " it may be 
asked," saith the Rev. Dr. Bennet upon this place, " whether 
a mere deacon may pronounce this form of absolution : and 
to this," saith he, " I answer, that in my judgment he may." 
The reason that he gives for it is, that he cannot but think it 
manifest, that this form of absolution is only declaratory : that 
it is only saying, That all penitent sinners are pardoned by God 
upon their repentance : and consequently that a mere deacon 
has as much authority to speak every part of this form, as he 
has to say, When the wicked man turneth away from his 
wickedness, &c, which is the first of the sentences appointed 
to be read before morning prayer : nay, that a mere deacon 
has as much authority to pronounce this form, as he has to 
preach a sermon about repentance. And that therefore it 
seems to be a vulgar mistake, which makes the deacons devi- 
ate from their rule, and omit either the whole, or else a part 
of this form, or perhaps exchange it for a collect taken out of 
some other part of the Liturgy." 21 

Designed by the now > w * tn submission to the learned 

church to be doctor, I beg leave to observe, that this form is 

23 See Dr. Marshal's preface to his translation of St. Cyprian. 21 Dr. Bennet on 
the Common Prayer, p. 27. 



DUCT. IV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



117 



expressly called by the rubric, The Absolution more than de- 
or Remission of Sins. It is not called a De- clarative - 
claration of Absolution, as one would think it should have 
been, if it had been designed for no more ; but it is positively 
and emphatically called THE Absolution, to denote that it is 
really an absolution of sins to those that are entitled to it by 
repentance and faith. 

Again, the terms used to express the priest's delivering or 
declaring it, is a very solemn one : it is to be pronounced 
(saith the rubric) by the priest alone. A word which signifies 
much more than merely to make known, or declare a thing ; 
for the Latin pronuncio, from whence it is taken, signifies 
properly to pronounce or give sentence : and therefore the 
word pronounced, here used, must signify that this is a sen- 
tence of absolution or remission of sins, to be authoritatively 
uttered by one who has received commission from God. 

But further, if the repeating this Absolution be no more 
than saying, That all penitent sinners are pardoned by God 
upon their repentance, as the learned doctor affirms ; I can- 
not conceive to what end it should be placed just after the 
Confession; for as much as this, the doctor himself tells us, 
is said before it, viz. in the first of the sentences appointed to 
be read before morning or evening prayer, When the wicked 
man turneth away from his wickedness, &c, and there I 
think indeed more properly : for such a declaration may be a 
great encouragement to draw men to confession and repent- 
ance ; but after they have confessed and repented, the use of 
it, I think, is not so great. It is indeed a comfort to us to 
know that God will pardon us upon our repentance : but then 
it must be supposed that the hope of this pardon is one chief 
ground of our repentance ; and therefore it cannot be imagin- 
ed that the Church should tell us that after the Confession, 
which it is necessary we should know before it, as being the 
principal motive we have to confess. 

All that I know can be said against this (though the doctor 
indeed does not urge so much) is, that " after the minister has 
declared the absolution and remission of the people's sins, he 
j^oes on to exhort them to pray and beseech God to grant 
them true repentance, &c, which repentance is necessary, it 
may be said, beforehand, in order to their pardon ; because 
God pardoneth and absolveth none but those who truly re- 
pent. And therefore since the minister here exhorts the peo- 



118 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. III. 



pie to pray for repentance after he has pronounced the abso- 
lution and remission of their sins ; it may be thought that the 
absolution does not convey a pardon, but only promises them 
one upon their repentance." But in answer to this, we may 
grant in the first place, that one part of repentance, viz. the 
acknowledging and confessing of our sins, must be performed 
before we are pardoned ; since, unless we acknowledge that 
we have transgressed God's laws, we do not own that we 
stand in need of his pardon. And for this reason the Church 
orders the people to make their confession, before she directs 
the priest to pronounce the Absolution. But then there are 
two other parts of repentance, which are as necessary after 
our sins are forgiven us, as they are before ; and they are 
contrition and amendment of life : for first, contrition (by 
which I mean the lamenting or looking back with sorrow upon 
our sins) is certainly necessary even after they are forgiven 
us : since to be pleased with the remembrance of them, would 
be (as far as lies in our power) to act those sins over again, 
and consequently, though God himself should at any time have 
declared them pardoned with his own mouth, yet such repe- 
tition of them would render even that absolution ineffectual. 
And, secondly, as to endeavours after amendment of life, if 
there be any difference, they are certainly more necessary 
after our former sins are forgiven than before ; because God's 
mercy in pardoning us is a new obligation upon us to live 
well, and is what will enhance our guilt, if we offend after- 
wards. And therefore our being pardoned ought to make us 
pray the more vehemently for repentance, and God's holy 
Spirit; lest, if we should return to our sins again, a worse 
thing should happen unto us. From all which it appears, that 
though repentance be a necessary disposition to pardon, so as 
that neither God will, nor man can, absolve those that are 
impenitent; yet, in some parts of it, it is a necessary conse- 
quent of pardon, insomuch as that he who is pardoned ought 
still to repent, as well as he who seeks a pardon : and if so, then 
the praying for repentance after the minister has declared a 
pardon, is no argument that such declaration does not convey 
a pardon. 

But, secondly, the design of the Church in this place is, not 
only to exhort the congregation to repentance, by declaring 
to them that God will forgive and pardon their sins when they 
shall repent, but also to convey an instant pardon from God, by 



SECT. IV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



119 



the mouth of the priest, to as many as do, at that time, truly 
repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel; seems evident 
from the former part of the Absolution, where the priest reads 
his commission before he executes his authority. For this 
part would be wholly needless, if no more was intended by 
the Absolution than what Dr. Bennet tells us, viz. " a bare 
declaration, that all penitent sinners are pardoned by God upon 
their repentance ; " for since, as he himself confesses, there is 
no more contained in such a declaration than what is implied 
in the first of the sentences before morning prayer, it will be 
very difficult to account why the Church should usher it in 
with so solemn a proclamation of what power and command- 
ment God has given to his ministers. But since the Church 
has directed the priest to make known to the people, that God 
has given power and commandment to his ministers to de- 
clare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolu- 
tion and remission of their sins ; it is very reasonable to sup- 
pose that, when in the next words the priest declares that 
God pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and 
unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel, he does, in the intent of 
the Church, exercise that power, and obey that commandment, 
which God has given him. 

But, lastly, the persons to whom this absolution must be 
pronounced, is another convincing proof that it is more than 
merely declarative. For if it implied no more than that all 
sinners are pardoned by God upon their repentance ; it might 
as well be pronounced to such as continue in their sins, as to 
those that have repented of them: nay, it would be more pro- 
per and advantageous to be pronounced to the former than 
to the latter; because, as I have observed, such a declaration 
might be a great inducement to forward their conversion. 
But yet we see that this form is not to be pronounced to such 
as the Church desires should repent, but to those who have 
repented. The absolution and remission of sins, which the 
priest here declares and pronounces from God, is declared 
and pronounced to his people being penitent, i. e. to those 
who are penitent at the very time of pronouncing the absolu- 
tion. For as to those who are impenitent, the priest is not 
here said to have any power or commandment relating to 
them : they are quite left out, as persons not fit or proper to 
have this commission executed in their behalf. From all 
which it is plain, that this absolution is more than declarative. 



120 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. iij. 



that it is truly effective ; insuring and conveying to the proper 
subjects thereof the very absolution or remission itself. It is 
as much a bringing of God's pardon to the penitent member 
of Christ's Church, and as effectual to his present benefit, as 
an authorized messenger bringing a pardon from his sovereign 
to a condemned penitent criminal, is effectual to his present 
pardon and release from the before appointed punishment. 

It is indeed drawn up in a declarative form ; and consider- 
ing it is to be pronounced to a mixed congregation, it could 
not well have been drawn up in any other. For the minister, 
not knowing who are sincere, and who are feigned penitents, 
is not allowed to prostitute so sacred an ordinance amongst 
the good and bad promiscuously ; but is directed to assure 
those only of a pardon who truly repent, and unfeignedly 
believe God's holy Gospel. But then to these, as may be 
gathered from what has been said, I take it to be as full and 
effective an absolution as any that can be given. 
Not to be pro- §• ^- And if so, then the question the learned 
nouncedbya doctor here introduces, must receive a different 
answer from what he has given it. For deacons 
were never commissioned by the Church to give absolution in 
any of its forms : and therefore when a deacon omits the whole 
or part of this form, he does not deviate from his rule, as the 
doctor asserts, but prudently declines to use an authority which 
he never received ; and which he is expressly forbid to use in 
this place by the rubric prefixed, which orders the Absolution 
to be pronounced by the priest alone. I am very readily in- 
clined to acknowledge with the doctor, that the word alone 
was designed to serve as a directory to the people, not to re- 
peat the words after the minister, as they had been directed to 
do in the preceding Confession ; but silently to attend till the 
priest has pronounced it, and then, by a hearty and fervent 
Amen, to testify their faith in the benefits conveyed by it. 
But then as to what the doctor goes on to assert, that " the 
word priest does in this place signify, not one that is in priest's 
orders, as we generally speak, but any minister that officiates, 
whether priest or deacon ; " I think I have very good reason 
to dissent from him. For the signification of a word is cer- 
tainly to be best learnt from the persons that impose it. Now 
though it be true that in king Edward's second Common 
Prayer Book, (which was the first that had the Absolution in 
it,) and in all the other books till the restoration of king 



SECT. IV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



121 



Charles, the word in the rubric was minister, and not priest ; 
yet in the review that followed immediately after the Restora- 
tion, priest was inserted in the room of minister, and that 
with a full and direct design to exclude deacons from being 
meant by it. For at the Savoy Conference, the presbyterian 
divines (that were appointed by the king to treat with the 
bishops about the alterations that were to be made in the Com- 
mon Prayer) had desired that, as the word minister was used 
in the Absolution, and in divers other places ; it 
might also be used throughout the whole book, ^LTob^ndef- 
instead of the word priest : .' 22 But to this the stoodexciusiveof 
bishop's answer was very peremptory and full, e cons ' 
viz. It is not reasonable that the word minister should be 
only used in the Liturgy : for since some parts of the Li- 
turgy may be performed by a deacon, others by none under 
the order of a priest, viz. Absolution, Consecration ; it is Jit 
that some such word as priest should be used for those offices, 
and not minister, which signifies at large every one that mi- 
nisters in the holy office, of what order soever he be. 23 And 
agreeable to this answer, when they came to make the neces- 
sary alterations in the Liturgy, they not only refused to change 
priest for minister, but also threw out the word minister, and 
put priest in the room of it, even in this rubric before the 
Absolution. So that it is undeniably plain, that by this rubric 
deacons are expressly forbid to pronounce this form ; since 
the word priest in this place (if interpreted according to the 
intent of those that inserted it) is expressly limited to one in 
vriesfs orders, and does not comprehend any minister that 
officiates, whether priest or deacon, as Dr. Bennet asserts. I 
therefore could wish that the doctor would take some decent 
opportunity to withdraw that countenance, which I know some 
deacons are apt to take from his opinion, which has much 
contributed to the spreading of a practice which was seldom 
or never known before. The doctor indeed, in the conclusion 
of the whole, declares that " he is far from desiring any per- 
son to be determined by him : and entreats the deacons to 
consult their ordinaries, and to follow their directions, which 

w See the exceptions against the Book of Common Prayer, §. 11, p. 6, in a quarto 
treatise, entitled, An Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners of both 
Persuasions, appointed by his sacred Majesty, according to Letters Patent, for the Re- 
view of the Book of Common Prayer, &c. London, printed in the year 1661 ; and in 
Mr. Baxter's Narrative, p. 31S. 23 See the papers that passed between the commis- 
sioners appointed by his Majesty for the alteration of the Common Prayer, (annexed 
to the aforesaid account,) p. 57, 5S. 



122 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. III. 



in such disputable matters (as these) are the best rule of con- 
science." But as to this it should be considered, that the 
rubric being established by act of parliament, the ordinaries 
themselves (whom the doctor advises the deacons to consult 
about it) have no power to authorize them to use this form, 
any otherwise than by giving them priest's orders : since their 
authority reaches no further than to doubtful cases, 24 and this, 
I think, appears now to be a clear one. 

The priest to §• ^- The priest is required to pronounce the 
stand, and the Absolution standing, because it is an act of his 
people to kneel. authority m declaring the will of God, whose 
ambassador he is. But the people are to continue kneeling, 
in token of that humility and reverence with which they ought 
to receive the joyful news of a pardon from God. 

Sect. V. — Of the Rubric after the Absolution. 

Immediately after the Absolution in the morning service, 
follows this general rubric : 

The people sliall answer here, and at the end of all other 
prayers, Amen. 

The word here enjoined to be used is origin- 
An signifies! t * all y Hebrew, and signifies the same in English 
as So be it. But the word itself has been retained 
in all languages, to express the assent of the person that pro- 
nounces it, to that to which he returns it as an answer. As it 
is used in the Common Prayer Book, it bears different signi- 
fications, according to the different forms to which it is an- 
nexed. At the end of prayers and collects, it is addressed to 
God, and signifies, " So be it, O Lord, as in our prayers we 
have expressed." But at the end of Exhortations, Absolu- 
tions, and Creeds, it is addressed to the priest, and then the 
meaning of it is either, " So be it, this is our sense and mean- 
ing: " or, " So be it, we entirely assent to and approve of what 
has been said." 

Howregardedby . §■ 2 - When this assent was given by the primi- 
the primitive tive Christians at their public offices, they pro- 
nounced it so heartily that St. Jerome compares 
it to thunder: " They echo out the Amen," saith he, " like a 
thunder-clap : " 25 and Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, that " at 
the last acclamations of their prayers, they raised themselves 

24 See the preface concerning the Service of the Church. 23 Hieron. in 2 Procem. 
Com. in Galat. 



SECT. VI.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



123 



upon their tip-toes, (for on Sundays and on all days between 
Easter and Whitsuntide they prayed standing,) as if they de- 
sired that that word should carry up their bodies as well as 
their souls to heaven." 26 

§. 3. In our present Common Prayer Book it 
is observable, that the Amen is sometimes printed sometimesinRo- 
in one character and sometimes in another. The J^Jj™" 
reason of which I take to be this : at the end of 1 es m a 1C- 
all the collects and prayers, which the priest is to repeat or 
say alone, it is printed in Italic, a different character from the 
prayers themselves, to denote, I suppose, that the minister is 
to stop at the end of the prayer, and to leave the Amen for 
the people to respond : but at the end of the Lord's Prayer, 
Confessions, Creeds, &c, and wheresoever the people are to 
join aloud with the minister, as if taught and instructed by him 
what to say, there it is printed in Roman, i. e. in the same cha- 
racter with the Confessions and Creeds themselves, as a hint to 
the minister that he is still to go on, and by pronouncing the 
Amen himself, to direct the people to do the same, and so to 
set their seal at last to what they had been before pronouncing. 

§. 4. By the people being directed by this ru- The peorle not 
brie to answer Amen at the end of the prayers, to repeat the 
they might easily perceive that they are expected prayels aloud - 
to be silent in the prayers themselves, and only to go along 
with the minister in their minds. For the minister is the ap- 
pointed intercessor for the people, and consequently it is his 
office to offer up their prayers and praises in their behalf: in- 
somuch that the people have nothing more to do than to at- 
tend to what he says, and to declare their assent by an Amen 
at last, without disturbing those that are near them by mut- 
tering over the collects in a confused manner, as is practised 
by too many in most congregations, contrary to common 
sense, as well as decency and good manners. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Lord's Prayer. 

What hath hitherto been done is, for the most Lord . s Prayerf 
part, rather a preparation to prayer, than prayer how proper at 
itself : but now we begin with the Lord's Prayer, 16 eginnins - 
with which the office itself began in the first book of king 
Edward VI. But our reformers at the review of it (as has 
already been observed) thought it proper to add what now 

88 Stromat. 1. 7. 



124 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. hi. 



precedes it, as judging it perhaps not so decent to call God 
Our Father, before we repent of cur disobedience against him. 
The necessity of using it I have already proved ; 27 and shall 
now only observe, that its being drawn up by our glorious 
Advocate, who knew both his Father's sufficiency and our 
wants, may assure us, that it contains every thing fit for us to 
ask, or his Father to grant. For which cause it is, and ought 
to be, added to all our forms and offices to make up their de- 
fects, and to recommend them to our heavenly Father ; who, 
if he cannot deny us when we ask in his Son's name, can 
much less do so when we speak in his words also. 28 

§. 2. The Doxology was appointed by the last 
Thy Sometimes review to be used in this place, partly, I suppose, 
times omiue™ 6 " because manv copies of St. Matthew have it, and 
lmesomi e . ^ e Q ree k Fathers expound it; and partly, be- 
cause the office here is a matter of praise, it being used im- 
mediately after the Absolution. But since St. Luke leaves it 
out, and some copies of St. Matthew, and most of the Latin 
Fathers ; therefore we also omit it in some places, where the 
offices are not direct acts of thanksgiving. 

§. 3. Here, and wherever else this prayer is 
peat the P Lord's e " used, the whole congregation is to join with the 
Prayer aloud minister in an audible voice ; partly that people 
with the minis- jg noran tly educated may the sooner learn it ; and 
partly to signify how boldly we may approach 
the Father, when we address him with the Son's words. 
Though till the last review there was no such direction ; it 
having been the custom till then, for the minister to say the 
Lord's prayer alone, in most of the offices, and for the people 
only to answer at the end of it, by way of response, Deliver 
us from evil. And the better to prepare and give them no- 
tice of what they were to do, the minister was used to elevate 
and raise his voice, when he came to the petition, Lead us 
not into temptation, just as it is done still in the Roman 
Church, where the priest always pronounces the conclusion 
of every prayer with a voice louder than ordinary, that the 
people may know when to join their Amen. 

Sect. VII.— Of the Responses. 

The design of It was a very ancient practice of the Jews to 
the responses. rec j te their public hymns and prayers by course: 

37 Introduction, p. 3, 4, &c. «s Cyprian, de Orat. p. 139, 140. 



SECT. VII.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



125 



and many of the Fathers assure us, that the primitive Chris- 
tians imitated them therein : so that there is no old Liturgy 
wherein there are not such short and devout sentences as 
these, which, from the people's answering the priests, are 
called responses. The design of them is, by a grateful va- 
riety, to quicken the people's devotions, and engage their at- 
tention : for since they have their share of duty, they must ex- 
pect till their turn come, and prepare for the next response : 
whereas, when the minister does all, the people naturally grow 
sleepy and heedless, as if they were wholly unconcerned. 

§. 2. The responses here enjoined consist of 
prayers and praises: the first, Lord, open &° rd ' open 
thou our lips, and our mouth shall shew forth R - And our 

, 7 . M n , • , t v mouth shall, &c. 

thy praise, are very frequent in ancient Litur- 
gies, particularly in those of St. James and St. Chrysostom, 
and are fitly placed here with respect to those sins we lately 
confessed : for they are part of David's penitential psalm,' 29 
who looked on his guilt so long, till the grief, shame, and fear, 
which followed thereupon, had almost sealed up his lips, and 
made him speechless ; so that he could not praise God as he 
desired, unless it pleased him, by speaking peace to his soul, 
to remove those terrors, and then his lips would be opened, 
and his mouth ready to praise God. And if we were as sens- 
ible of our guilt as we ought to be, it will be needful for us 
to beg such evidences of our pardon, as may free us from the 
terrors which seal up our lips, and then we shall be fit to 
praise God heartily in the following psalms. 

§. 3. The words that follow, viz. O God, make F God m k 
speed to save us O Lord, make haste to help S p e ed, &c.' ma e 
us, are of ancient use in the Western Church. ^ as ^ e L ^ d ' malie 
When with David we look back to the innumer- 
able evils which have taken hold of us, we cry to God to save 
21s speedily from them by his mercy ; and when we look for- 
ward to the duties we are about to do, we pray as earnestly, 
in the words of the same Psalmist, 30 that he will make haste 
to help us by his grace ; without which we can do no accept- 
able service. 

§. 4. And now having good confidence that v G ^ be to 
our pardon is granted ; like David, 31 we turn our the Father, &c. 
petitions into praises : standing up to denote the f e '^j S in \ng, sl & c the 
elevation of our hearts, and giving glory to the 

» Psalm li. 15. :!0 Psalm lxx. 1. ai p sa lm vi. 9. cxxx. 7. 



126 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. nr. 



whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the hopes 
we entertain. 

In the primitive times almost every Father had his own 
Doxologies, which they expressed as they had occasion in 
their own phrases and terms ; ascribing glory and honour, &c. 
sometimes to the Father only, and sometimes only to the So?i ; 
sometimes to the Father through the Son, and sometimes to 
the Father with the Son; sometimes to the Spirit jointly 
with both, and sometimes through or in the Spirit to either ; 
sometimes through the Son to the Father with the Holy 
Ghost, and sometimes to the Father and Holy Ghost with 
the Son. For they all knew that there were three distinct, 
but undivided Persons, in one eternal and infinite essence ; 
and therefore whilst they rendered glory from this principle 
of faith, whatever the form of Doxology was, the meaning and 
design of it was always the same. But when the Arians be- 
gan to wrest some of these general expressions in countenance 
and vindication of their impious opinions, and to fix chiefly 
upon that form, which was the most capable of being abused 
to an heretical sense, viz. Glory to the Father, by the Son, in 
the Holy Ghost ; this and the other forms grew generally into 
disuse , aflrl that which ascribes glory to the Holy Ghost, as 
well as to the Father and the Son, from that time became the 
standing form of the Church. So that the Doxology we meet 
with in the ancient Liturgies is generally thus : Glory be to 
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and 
ever, world without end : and so it continues still in the offices 
of the Greek Church: but the Western Church soon after- 
wards added the words, JLs it was in tlie beginning , not only 
to oppose the poison of the Arians, who said, there was a 
beginning of time before Christ had any beginning, but also 
to declare that this was the primitive form, and the old ortho- 
dox way of praising God. 33 

8. 5. Having now concluded our penitential 

V. Praise ye the rt£ i ~ , , rc c • 

Lord. B. The office, we begin the office of praises; as an m- 
Lord's name be troduction to which the priest exhorts us to 
Praise the Lord: the people, to shew their 
readiness to join with him, immediately reply, let the Lord's 
name be praised ; though this answer of the people was first 
added to the Scotch Liturgy, and then to our own, at the last 
review. 

3 2 Concil. Vasens. c. 3, torn. ii. col. 727, E. 



SECT. VIII.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



127 



The first of these versicles, viz. Praise ye the 

Of 

lujah. 



Lord, is no other than the English of Hallelujah ; 0f the Halle " 



a word so sacred, that St. John retains it, 33 and 
St. Austin saith the Church scrupled to translate it; 34 a word 
appointed to be used in all the Liturgies I ever met with : in 
some of them upon all days in the year except those of fast- 
ing and humiliation ; but in others only upon Sundays and 
the fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide, in token of 
the joy we express for Christ's resurrection. 35 In our own 
Church, notwithstanding we repeat the sense of it every day 
in English ; yet the word itself was retained in the first book 
of king Edward VI., where it was appointed to be used im- 
mediately after the versicles here mentioned, from Easter to 
Trinity Sunday. How it came to be left out afterwards I 
cannot tell ; except it was because those who had the care of 
altering our Liturgy, thought the repetition of the word itself 
was needless, since the sense of it was implied in the forego- 
ing versicles : though the Church always took it for something 
more than a bare repetition of Praise ye the Lord. For in 
those words the minister calls only upon the congregation to 
praise God ; whereas in this he was thought to invite the holy 
angels also to join with the congregation, and to second our 
praises below with their divine Hallelujahs above. 

§. 6. Some have objected against the dividing 
of our prayers into such small parts and versi- 0bj s ^er°ed an " 
cles : but to this we answer, That though there 
be an alteration and division in the utterance, yet the prayer 
is but one continued form. For though the Church requires 
that the minister speak one portion, and the people the other ; 
yet both the minister and the people ought mentally to offer 
up and speak to God, what is vocally offered up and spoken 
by each of them respectively. 

Sect. VIIL— Of the Ninety-fifth Psalm. 
The matter of this psalm shews it was designed 
at first for the public service ; on the feast of ta- ^^mM?*" 
bernacles, as some, 36 or on the Sabbath-day, as 
others think ; 37 but St. Paul judges it fit for every day, while 
it is called to-day,™ and so it has been used in all the Chris- 

33 Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6, &c. 3 * De Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. 11, torn. iii. col. 
25, B. » August. Ep, 119, ad Jan. cap. 15, et 17. Isidor. de Eccl. Offic. lib. i. c. 13. 
Grotius in Psalm xcv. *7 Calvin in Psalm xcv. 38 Heb. iii. 7, 15. 



128 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAT. III. 



tian world ; as the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil 
witness for the Greek Church, the testimony of St. Augustin 
for the African, 39 and all its ancient offices and capitulars for 
the Western. St. Ambrose saith, that it was the use of the 
Church in his time to begin their service with it : 40 for which 
reason in the Latin services it is called the Invitatory Psalm .• 
it being always sung with a strong and loud voice, to hasten 
those people into the church, who were in the cemetery or 
churchyard, or any other adjacent parts, waiting for the be- 
ginning of prayers : 41 agreeable to which practice, in the first 
book of king Edward it is ordered to be said, or sung, with- 
out any (i. e. I suppose without any other) invitatory. 

§. 2. Our reformers very fitly placed it here 
Why usedm this ag a p r0 p er preparatory to the following psalms, 
lessons, and collects. For it exhorts us, first, to 
praise God, shewing us in what manner and for what reasons 
we ought to do it ; 42 secondly, it exhorts us to pray to him, 
shewing us also the manner and reasons. 43 Lastly, it exhorts 
us to hear God's word speedily and willingly, 44 giving us a 
caution to beware of hardening our hearts, by an instance of 
the sad event which happened to the Jews on that account, 45 
whose sin and punishment are set before us, that we may not 
destroy our souls, by despising and distrusting God's word as 
they did. 46 For which warning we bless the holy Trinity, 
saying, Glory be to the Father, &c. 

Sect. IX.— Of the Psalms. 

And now, if we have performed the foregoing parts of the 
Liturgy as we ought, we shall be fitly disposed to 
t?eyfoiiownSt y sin S the Psalms of David with his own spirit. For 
all that hath been done hitherto was to tune our 
hearts, that we may say, O God, our hearts are ready, we will 
sing and give praise}' For having confessed humbly, begged 
forgiveness earnestly, and received the news of our absolution 
thankfully; we shall be naturally filled with contrition and 
lowliness, and with desires of breathing up our souls to heaven. 
And this, St. Basil tells us, 48 was a rite that in his time had 
obtained among all the Churches of God : " After the Confes- 
sion," saith he, " the people rise from prayer, and proceed to 

so Serm. 176, de Verb. Apost. c. 1, torn. v. col. 839, E. * 3 Serm. de Deip. 41 Durand. 
de Divin. Offic. Rational. 1. 5, c. 3, numb. 11, fol. 227. « Ver. 1—5. Ver. G, 7. 

" Ver. 8. « Ver. 8—11. « Ver. 10, 11. « Psalm cviii. 1. * s Basil, Ep. 03, 
torn, ii p. 843. 



SECT. IX.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



129 



psalmody, dividing themselves into two parts, and singing by- 
turns." For the performance of which we can have no greater 
or properer assistance than the Book of Psalms, which is a 
collection of prayers and praises indited by the Holy Spirit, 
composed by devout men on various occasions, and so suited 
to public worship, that they are used by Jews as well as Chris- 
tians. And though the several parties of Christians differ in 
many other things ; yet in this they all agree. They contain 
variety of devotions, agreeable to all degrees and conditions 
of men ; insomuch that, without much difficulty, every man 
may, either directly or by way of accommodation, apply most 
of them to his own case. 

§. 2. For which cause the Church useth these used oftener than 
oftener than any other part of Scripture. Nor any other part of 
can she herein be accused of novelty : since it is Scri i :ture - 
certain the temple-service consisted chiefly of forms taken out 
of the Psalms ; i9 and the prayers of the modern Jews also 
are mostly gathered from thence. 50 The Christians undoubt- 
edly used them in their public service in the times of the 
Apostles; 51 and in the following ages they were repeated so 
often at the church, that the meanest Christians could rehearse 
them by heart at their ordinary work. 53 

§. 3. But now it is objected, that " it cannot Whether ail the 
reasonably be supposed that all the members of SSd^on^rega- 
mixed congregations can be fit to use some ex- tion may properly 

. ° , 3 — , . . . . use some expres- 

pressions m the Psalms, so as to make them their sions in the 
own words ; because very few have attained to Psalms - 
such a degree of piety and goodness as David and the other 
Psalmists make profession of : and that therefore the Book of 
Psalms is not* now a proper part of divine service." 

To which it is answered : That so long as men continue in 
a wicked course of life, they are not only unfit for the use of 
the Psalms, but of any other devotions : they are not only 
incapable of applying such passages in the Psalms to their own 
persons ; but they cannot so much as repeat a penitential 
Psalm, or even the confession of sins in the Liturgy, in a 
proper and agreeable manner : since he that does this as he 
ought, must do it with resolutions of amendment. But then 
as to those who have sincerely repented, and in earnest begun 



« 1 Chron. xvi. 1—37. xxv. 1, 2. 50 Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, cap. 10. 51 1 Cor. 
xiv. 26. Col. iii. 16. James v. 13. 52 Vid. Chrys. Horn. 6, de Pceniten. torn. v. col. 
741, D. in a Latin edition printed at Paris, 15S8. 



130 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. Ill 



a virtuous course of life ; no reason can be given why they 
may not unite their hearts and voices with the Church, in re- 
hearsing these Psalms. For we may very aptly take a great 
part of the Psalter as the address of the whole Church to 
Almighty God ; and then no doubt but every sincere member 
of this body may perform his part in this pious consort. Every 
true Christian may, and must say, that the Church, whereof 
he professes himself a member, is all glorious within, (i. e. 
adorned with all manner of inward graces and excellences,) 
though no Christian that is humble will presume to say so of 
himself. Perhaps the very best men do not think such ele- 
vated expressions fit to be applied to their single lives, or per- 
sonal performances : but yet any sincere Christian may very 
well join in the public use of these parts of the Psalter, when 
he considers that what he says, or sings, is the voice of the 
Church universal; and that, as he has but a small share of 
those virtues and perfections, which are the ornament of the 
Church, the body of Christ ; so his tongue is but one, amongst 
those innumerable choirs of Christians throughout the world. 
And there is no reason to doubt but that David did in some 
Psalms speak as the representative of the Church, as in others 
he expresses himself in the person of Christ : and therefore a 
devout man may also as well use these Psalms in his closet as 
in the church; if so be he consider himself, notwithstanding 
his retirement, as one of that large and vast body, who serve 
and worship God, according to these forms, night and day. 
But to return : 

§. 4. The custom of singing or repeating the 
^cours? by Psalms alternately, or verse by verse, seems to 
be as old as Christianity itself. Nor is there 
any question to be made but that the Christians received it 
from the Jews ; for it is plain that several of the Psalms, 
which were composed for the public use of the temple, were 
written in amoeboeick, or alternate verse? 3. To which way of 
singing used in the temple, it is probable the vision of Isaiah 
alluded, which he saw of the seraphim crying one to another, 
Holy, holy, holy, Sec. 5 * That it was the constant practice of 
the Church in the time of St. Basil, we have his own testi- 
mony : for he writes, 55 that the people in his time, " rising 
before it was light, went to the house of prayer, and there, 

53 As the cxivth and cxviiith, &c. 51 Isaiah viii. 3. 55 Ep. ad Clerum Neocaes. 
Ep. 63, torn. ii. p. 843, D. Vide et Const. Ap. 1. ii. c. 57. 



SECT. IX.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



131 



in great agony of soul, and incessant showers of tears, made 
confession of their sins to God : and then rising from their 
prayers, proceeded to singing of psalms, dividing themselves 
into two parts, and singing by turns." Ever since which time 
it has been thought so reasonable and decent, as to be uni- 
versally practised. What Theodoret writes, 56 that Elavianus 
and Diodorus were the first that ordered the Psalms of David 
to be sung alternately at Antioch, seems not to be meant of 
the first institution of this custom, but only of the restoring 
of it, or else of the appointing some more convenient way of 
doing it. Isidore says, 57 that St. Ambrose was the first that 
introduced this custom among the Latins ; but this too must 
be understood only in relation to some alterations that were 
then made ; for pope Caelestine, as we read in his life, applied 
the Psalms to be sung alternately at the celebration of the 
eucharist. This practice, so primitive and devout, our Church 
(though there is no particular rubric to enjoin it) still con- 
tinues in her service either by singing, as in our cathedral 
worship ; or by saying, as in the parochial. For in the former, 
when one side of the choir sing to the other, they both pro- 
voke and relieve each other's devotion : they provoke it (as 
Tertullian 55 remarks) by a holy contention, and relieve it by 
a mutual supply and change ; for which reasons, in the paro- 
chial service, the reading of the Psalms is also divided be- 
tween the minister and the people. And indeed did not the 
congregation bear their part, to what end does the minister 
exhort them to praise the Lord? or what becomes of their 
promise, that their mouths shall shew forth his praise ? To 
what end again is the invitatory ( come, let us sing unto the 
Lord, &c.) placed before the Psalms, if the people are to have 

o share in praising him in the Psalms that follow ? 
§. 5. Nor does the use of musical instruments 

nthe singing of psalms appear to be less ancient m^ntsusSS 1 " 
than the custom itself of singing them. The first siB ?J" sof 
Psalm we read of was sung to a timbrel, viz. ps s ' 
■that which Moses and Miriam sang after the deliverance of 
the children of Israel from Egypt. 59 And afterwards at Jeru- 
salem, when the temple was built, musical instruments were 
constantly used at their public services. 60 Most of David's 

sfi Hist. Eccl. 1. ii. c. 24. 57 Isidor. de Offic. 1. i. c. 7. Sonant inter duos psalmi 
et hymni, et mutuo provocant quis mei.us Deo suo cantet : Talia Christus videns et 
udiens gaudet. Tert. ad Uxor, ad finem, 1. 2, p. 172, B. 53 Exod. xv. 20. 
w 2 Sam. vi. 5. ] Chron. xv. 16. 2 Chron. v. 12. and xxix. 25. 



132 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. nr. 



Psalms, we see by the titles of them, were committed to 
masters of music to be set to various tunes : and in the hun- 
dred and fiftieth Psalm especially, the prophet calls upon 
the people to prepare their different kinds of instruments 
wherewith to praise the Lord. And this has been the con- 
stant practice of the Church, in most ages, as well since as 
before the coming of Christ. 61 

When organs were first brought into use, is 
° rS ch n u S rche^ not clearlv known : but we find it recorded that 

about the year 766, Constantius Copronymus, 
emperor of Constantinople, sent a present of an organ to king 
Pepin of France : 62 and it is certain that the use of them has 
been very common now for several hundred of years ; Durand 
mentioning them several times in his book, but giving no inti- 
mation of their novelty in divine service. 
The psalms to §• ® m When we repeat the psalms and hymns 
be repeated we stand ; that, by the erection of our bodies, 
standing. we ma y ex p ress the elevation or lifting up of our 

souls to God. Though another reason of our standing is, be- 
cause some parts of them are directed to God, and others are 
not : as therefore it would be very improper to kneel at those 
parts which are not directed to him ; so it would be very in- 
decent to sit, when we repeat those that are. And therefore 
because both these parts, viz. those which are and those which 
are not directed to God, are so frequently altered, and mingled 
one with another, that the most suitable posture for each of 
them cannot always be used, standing is prescribed as a pos- 
ture which best suits both together ; which is also consonant 
to the practice of the Jewish Church recorded in the Scrip- 
ture. For we read, 63 that while the priests and Levites were 
offering up praises to God, all Israel stood. And we learn 
from the ritualists of the Christian Church, 64 that when they 
came to the Psalms, they always shewed the affection of their 
souls by this posture of their bodies. 

§.7. At the end of every Psalm, and of every 
SpeSed^t^h? P art °f tlie hundred and nineteenth Psalm} 5 
end of all the and all the Hymns, (except the Te Deiem ; 
hymns. and which, because it is nothing else almost but the 

Gloria Patri enlarged, hath not this doxology 

61 Basil, in Psalm, i. torn. i. p. 126, B. Euseb. Histor. Eccles. lib. 2, ? c. 17, p. 57. C. 
Dionys. Areop. de Eccles. Hier. c. 3, p. S9> D. Isid. Peleus. 1. 1, Ep. 90, p. 29, A. 

62 Aventin. Annal. Bojorum, 1. 3, f. 300, as cited in Mr. Gregory's Posthumous Works 
p. 49. 63 2 Chron. vii. 6. 64 Vide Amal. Fort. lib. 3, cap. 3. Durand. Rational, lib, 
5, cap. I. 03 See the order how the Psalter is appointed to be read. 



SECT. IX.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



133 



annexed,) we repeat Glory be to the Father, &c, a custom 
which Durandus would have us believe was instituted by 
Pope Damasus, at the request of St. Jerome ; 66 but for this 
there appears to be but little foundation. In the Eastern 
Churches they never used this glorification, but only at the 
end of the last Psalm, which they called their Antiphona, or 
Allelujah, as being one of those Psalms which had the Alle- 
lujah prefixed to it ; 67 but in France, and several other of the 
Western Churches, it was used at the end of every Psalm ; 68 
which is still continued with us, to signify that we believe 
that the same God is worshipped by Christians as by Jews ; 
the same God that is glorified in the Psalms, having been 
from the beginning Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as well as 
now. So that the Gloria Patri is not any real addition to the 
Psalms, but is only used as a necessary expedient to turn the 
Jewish Psalms into Christian Hymns, and fit them for the use 
of the Church now, as they were before for the use of the 
synagogue. 

§. 8. The present division of the Book of The course 0l> 
Psalms into several portions (whereby two separ- served in reading 
ate portions are affixed to each day, and the circle tlle Psalms - 
of the whole to the circuit of the month) seems to be more 
commodious and proper than any method that had been used 
before. For the division of them into seven portions, called 
nocturns, which took up the whole once a week, (as practised 
in the Latin Church,) seemed too long and tedious. And the 
division of them into twenty portions, to be read over in so 
many days, (as in the Greek Church,) though less tedious, is 
too uncertain, every portion perpetually shifting its day : 
whereas in our Church, each portion being constantly fixed to 
the same day of the month, [except there be proper Psalms 
appointed for that day, as all the former Common Prayer 
Books expressed it,) the whole course is rendered certain and 
immovable : and being divided into threescore different por- 
tions, (i. e. one for every morning, and one for every even- 
ing service,) none of them can be thought too tedious or 
burdensome. In all the old Common Prayer Books indeed^ 
because January and March ham one day above the number 
of thirty, {which, as concerning this purpose, was appointed 
to every month,) and February, which is placed between them 

C6 Durand. Rational. 1. 5, c. 2, n. 17, fol. 214. c" Cassian. Institut. 1. 2, c. 8. Strabo 
de Reb. Eccles. c. 25. 68 Cassian. ut supra. 



134 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. III. 



loth, hath only twenty-eight days ; it was ordered, that Feb- 
ruary should borrow of either of the months {of January 
and March) one day: and so the Psalter which was read in 
February began at the last day of January and ended the 
first day of March. And to know what Psalms were to be 
read every day, there was (pursuant to another rubric) a 
column added in the calendar, to shew the number that was 
appointed for the Psalms ; and another table, where the same 
number being found, shewed what Psalms were to be read at 
morning and evening prayer. But this being found to be 
troublesome and needless, it was ordered, first in the Scotch 
Liturgy and then in our own, that in February the Psalter 
should be read only to the twenty -eighth or twenty -ninth day 
of the month. And January and March were inserted into 
the rubric, which before ordered that in May, and the rest of 
the months that had one and thirty days apiece, the same 
Psalms should be read the last day of the said months, 
which were read the day before : so that the Psalter may 
begin again the first day of the next month ensuing. 

§. 9. The Psalms we use in our daily service 

be^us^ScorV are not taken 0ut ° f either ° f the tw0 last tranS ~ 

ing to the trans- lations of the Bible, but out of the great English 
grSrBrbi? 6 Bible, translated by William Tyndal and Miles 
Coverdale, and revised by archbishop Cranmer : 
for when the Common Prayer was compiled in 1548, neither 
of the two last translations were extant. 

It is true indeed, that at the last review the Epistles and 
Gospels were taken out of the new translation : and the Les- 
sons too, since that time, have been read out of king James 
the First's Bible. But in relation to the Psalms it was noted, 
that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews, and 
the translation of the great English Bible set forth and used 
in the time of king Henry the Eighth, and king Edward the 
Sixth. 6 * The reason of the continuance of which order is 
the plainness and smoothness of this translation : for the He- 
braisms being not so much retained in this as in the late trans- 
lations, the verses run much more musical and fitter for devo- 
tion. Though, as the old rubric informs us, this translation, 
from tlie ninth Psalm unto the hundred and forty-eighth 
Psalm, doth vary in numbers from the common Latin trans- 
lation. 

*° See the order how the Psalter is appointed to be read. 



SECT. X.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



135 



Sect. X. — Of the Lessons. 
Our hearts being now raised tip to God in T 

, -, . .° . . . , -p. x , Ine Lessons, 

praising and admiring him m the Fsalms ; we are why they follow 
in a fit temper and disposition to hear what he tte Psalms - 
shall speak to us by his word. And thus too a respite or 
intermission is given to the bent of our minds : for whereas 
the) 7 were required to be active in the Psalms, it is sufficient 
if in the Lessons they hold themselves attentive. And there- 
fore now follow two chapters of the Bible, one out of the Old 
Testament, the other out of the New, to shew the harmony 
between the Law and the Gospel : for what is the Law, but the 
Gospel foreshewed? what the Gospel, but the Law fulfilled ? 
That which lies in the Old Testament, as under a shadow, is 
in the New brought out into the open sun : things there pre- 
figured are here performed. And for this reason the first 
Lesson is taken out of the Old Testament, the second out of 
the New, that so the minds of the hearers may be gradually 
led from darker revelations to clearer views, and prepared by 
the vails of the Law to bear the light breaking forth in the 
Gospel. 

§. 2. And here it may not be amiss to observe 
the great antiquity of joining the reading of The l^^ of 
Scriptures to the public devotions of the Church. 
Justin Martyr says, " It was a custom in his time 'to read 
Lessons out of the Prophets and Apostles in the assembly of 
the faithful." 70 And the Council of Laodicea, held in the 
beginning of the fourth century, ordered " Lessons to be min- 
gled with the Psalms." 71 And Cassian tells us, that " It was 
the constant custom of all the Christians throughout Egypt to 
have two Lessons, one out of the Old Testament, another out 
of the New, read immediately after the Psalms ; a practice," he 
says, " so ancient, that it cannot be known whether it was 
founded upon any human institution." 73 Nor has this prac- 
tice been peculiar to the Christians only, but constantly used 
also by the Jews : who divided the books of Moses into as 
many portions as there are weeks in the year ; that so, one of 
those portions being read over every sabbath-day, the whole 
might be read through every year. 73 And to this answers that 
expression of St. James, 74 that Moses was read in the syna- 



70 Apol. 1, cap. 87, p. 131. 71 Can. 17, Concil. torn. i. col. 1500, B. 72 Cassian . 
«1e Inst. Mon. lib. 2, cap. 4. 73 See Ainsworth on Gen. vi. 9. 74 Acts xv. 21. 



136 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. nr.. 



gogues every sabbath-day. And that to this portion of the Law 
they added a Lesson out ofthe Prophets, we may gather from 
the thirteenth ofthe Acts, where we find it mentioned that the 
Law and the Prophets were both read in a synagogue where 
St. Paul was present, 75 and that the Prophets were read at 
Jerusalem every sabbath- day ? & 

~, , ' . .. 8. 3. For the choice of these Lessons and their 

a he order of the y . . 

first Lessons for order, the Church observes a dmerent course, 
ordinary days. -p 0Y the first Lessons on ordinary days she ob- 
serves only this ; to begin at the beginning of the year with 
Genesis, and so to continue on till all the books of the Old 
Testament are read over ; only omitting the Chronicles (which 
are for the most part the same with the books of Samuel and 
Kings, which have been read before) and other particular 
chapters in other books, which are left out, either for the same 
reason, or else because they contain genealogies, names of 
persons or places, or some other matter less profitable for 
ordinary hearers. 

The Song of Solomon, or the book of Canti- 
S °?hy 0f omi\ ™d° n ' c ^ es i * s wholly omitted ; because, if not spiritu- 
ally understood, (which very few people are 
capable of doing, especially so as to put a tolerably clear sense 
upon it,) it is not proper for a mixed congregation. The 
Jews ordered that none should read it till they were thirty 
years old, for an obvious reason, which too plainly holcLs 

Very many chapters of Ezekiel are omitted, 
EZ om?tted. hy upon account of the mystical visions in which 
they are wrapt up. Why some others are omitted 
does not so plainly appear, though doubtless the compilers of 
our Liturgy thought there was sufficient reason for it. 
Isaiah, why re- After all the canonical books of the Old Tes- 
servedtothe tament are read through, (except Isaiah, which 
being the most evangelical prophet, and con- 
taining the clearest prophecies of Christ, is not read in the 
order it stands in the Bible, but reserved to be read a little 
before, and in Advent, to prepare in us a true faith in the 
mystery of Christ's incarnation and birth, the commemora- 
tion of which at that time draws nigh ;) after all the rest, I 
say, to supply the remaining part of the year, several books of 

75 Acts xiii. 15. 76 Ver. 27. See also Prideaux's Connexion, vol. ii. p. 1/2, 251. 
Oxf. edit. 1838. 



SECT. X.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



137 



the Apocrypha are appointed to be read, which, 
though not canonical, have yet been allowed, by booSuponwhat 
the judgment of the Church for many ages past, f c r °Lessons ad 
to be ecclesiastical and good, nearest to divine 
of any writings in the world. For which reason the books of 
Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, and the Maccabees, 
were recommended by the Council of Carthage 77 to be pub- 
licly read in the church. And Kuffinus testifies, 78 that they 
were all in use in his time, though not with an authority equal 
to that of the canonical books. And that the same respect 
was paid to them in latter ages, Isidore Hispalensis 79 and Ra- 
banus Maurus 80 both affirm. 

In conformity to so general a practice, the Church of Eng- 
land still continues the use of these books in her public ser- 
vice ; though not with any design to lessen the authority of 
canonical Scripture, which she expressly affirms to be the 
only rule of faith : declaring, 81 that the Church doth read the 
other books for example of life and instruction of manners, 
hut yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine. Nor is 
there any one Sunday in the whole year, that has any of its 
Lessons taken out of the Apocrypha. For as the greatest 
assemblies of Christians are upon those days, it is wisely or- 
dered that they should then be instructed out of the undis- 
puted word of God. And even on the week-days, the second 
Lessons are constantly taken out of canonical Scripture, which 
one would think should be enough to silence our adversaries ; 
especially as there is more canonical Scripture read in our 
churches in any two months (even though we should except 
the Psalms, Epistles, and Gospels) than is in a whole year in 
the largest of their meetings. But to return : 

§. 4. The course of the first Lessons appointed 
for Sundays is different from that which is or-^ fi ^™ ns 
dained for the week-days. For from Advent 
Sunday to Septuagesima Sunday, some particular chapters out 
of Isaiah are appointed, for the aforesaid reason. But upon 
Septuagesima Sunday Genesis is begun ; because then begins 
the time of penance and mortification, to which Genesis suits 
best, as treating of the original of our misery by the fall of 
Adam, and of God's severe judgment upon the world for sin. 
For which reason the reading of this book was affixed to Lent, 

77 Cap. 27. 78 R u ffin. in Symb. "''■> De Eccles. Offic. lib. 1, c. 11. 80 De Ihsiit. 
Eccles. 1. 2, c. 53. 81 In her sixth Article. 



138 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. III. 



even in the primitive ages of the Church. S2 Then are read for- 
ward the books as they lie in order ; not all the books, but 
(because more people can attend the public worship of God 
upon Sundays than upon other days) such particular chapters 
are selected, as are judged most edifying to all that are pre- 
sent. And if any Sunday be (as some call it) a privileged 
day, i. e. if it hath the history of it expressed in Scripture, 
such as Easter-day, Whitsunday, &c, then are peculiar and 
proper Lessons appointed. 

§. 5. Upon saints-days another order is ob- 
S^saSts'Saysl 13 served : for upon them the Church appoints Les- 
sons out of the moral books, such as Proverbs, 
Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom, which, containing 
excellent instructions of life and conversation, are fit to be 
read upon the days of saints, whose exemplary lives and deaths 
are the causes of the Church's solemn commemoration of them, 
and commendation of them to us. 

§. 6. Other holy-days, such as Christmas- 
For days! h ° ly " - day, Circumcision, Epiphany, &c, have proper 
and peculiar Lessons appointed suitable to the 
occasions, as shall be shewn hereafter, when I speak of those 
several days. I shall only observe here, that there have been 
proper Lessons appointed on all holy-days, as well saints-days 
as others, ever since St. Austin's time : 83 though perhaps they 
were not reduced into an exact order till the time of Musaeus, 
a famous priest of Massilia, who lived about the year 480. 
Of whom Gennadius writes, that he particularly applied him- 
self, at the request of St. Venerius, a bishop, to choose out 
proper Lessons for all the festivals in the year. 84 

§. 7. As for the second Lessons, the Church ob- 
^econd d Lessons! serves the same course upon Sundays as she doth 
upon week-days ; reading the Gospels and Acts 
of the Apostles in the morning, and the Epistles at evening, in 
the same order they stand in the New Testament ; except up- 
on saints-days and holy-days, when such Lessons are appointed, 
as either explain the mystery, relate the history, or apply the 
example to us. 

The Revelation §• 8 - The Revelation is wholly omitted, except 
omitted, and the first and last chapters (which are read upon 
why * the day of St. John the Evangelist, who was 

82 Chrysost. torn. i. Horn. 7, p. 106, et torn. ii. Horn. 1, p. 10, edit. Paris, 1609. 
83 August, in Procem. Ep. Johan. 84 Gennadius de Viris illustrious, cap. 79. 



SECT. X.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



139 



the author) and part of the nineteenth chapter (which con- 
taining the praises and adoration paid to God by the angels 
and saints in heaven, is very properly appointed to be read on 
the festival of All-Saints). But, except upon these occasions, 
none of this book is read openly in the church for Lessons, by 
reason of its obscurity, which renders it unintelligible to 
meaner capacities. 

§. 9. And thus we see, by the prudence of the The antiquity 
Church, the Old Testament is read over once, and usefulness of 
and the New thrice (i. e. excepting some less thls ° lethod - 
useful parts of both) in the space of a year, conformable to the 
practice of the ancient Fathers: who (as our reformers tell us 86 ) 
so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible, or the greatest 
part thereof ] should be read over once every year : intending 
thereby that the clergy, and especially such as icere ministers 
in the congregation, should (by often reading and meditating 
in God's ivord) be stirred up to godliness themselves, and be 
more able to exhort others by ivholesome doctrine, and to con- 
fute them that were adversaries to the truth: and further, that 
the people (by daily hearing the holy Scriptures read in the 
church) might continually profit more and more in the know- 
ledge of God, and be more inflamed ivith the love of his true 
religion. Whereas in the Church of Rome this godly and de- 
cent order was so altered, broken, and neglected, by planting 
in uncertain stories and legends* with multitudes of responds,^ 
verses,\ vain repetitions, commemorations,^ and synodals ;[| 

86 In the preface concerning the service of the Church. 

* Uncertain stories and legends.] By these are to be understood those le- Legends, 
gendary stories, which the Roman breviaries appoint to be read on their saints- JJ£j£ y 
days : which being almost as numerous as the days in the year, there is hardly 
a day free from having idle tales mixed in its service. Nor is this remarkable 
only in their Lessons upon their modern saints ; but even the stories of the 
Apostles are so scandalously blended with monkish fictions, that all wise and 
conscientious Christians must nauseate and abominate their service. 

+ Responds.] A respond is a short anthem, interrupting the middle of a Respond?, 
chapter, which is not to proceed till the anthem is done. The long responses ^£ they 
are used at the close of the Lessons. 

X Verses.] By the verses here mentioned are to be understood either the "Verses, 
versicle that follows the respond in the breviary, or else those hymns which w at * 
are proper to every Sunday and holy-day ; which (except some few) are a 
parcel of despicable monkish Latin verses, composed in the most illiterate 
ages of Christianity. 

§ Commemorations.] Commemorations are the mixing the service of some c °™™ i *„ s 
holy-day of lesser note, with the service of a Sunday or holy-day of greater ™hat/ 
eminency, on which the less holy-day happens to fall. In which case it is 
appointed by the ninth general rule in the breviary, that only the hymns, 
verses, &c, and some other part of the service of the lesser holy-day, be an- 
nexed to that of the greater. 

!| Synodals.] These were the publication or recital of the provincial con- 
6t:tutions in the parish-churches. For after the conclusion of every provincial we j 6i 



140 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. in. 



that, commonly, when any book of the Bible was begun, after 
three or four chapters were read out, all the rest were unread. 
And in this sort the book of Isaiah luas begun in Advent, and 
the book of Genesis in Septuagesima ; but they were only be- 
gun, and never read through : after like sort were other books 
of holy Scripture used. Moreover, the number and hardness 
of the rules called the Pie,* and the manifold changings of the 
service, was the cause, that to turn the book only was so hard 
and intricate a matter, that many times there was more busi- 
ness to find out what shoidd be read, than to read it when it 
was found out. 

These inconveniences therefore considered, here is set forth 
such an order, whereby the same shall be redressed. And for 
a readiness in this matter, here is drawn out a calendar for 
that purpose, ivhich is plain and easy to be understood ; ivhere- 
in (so much as may be) the reading of holy Scripture is so set 
forth, that all things should be done in order, without breaking 
one piece from another. For this cause be cut off anthems, 
responds, invitatories, and such like things, as did break the 
continual course of the reading of the Scripture. 

Yet, because there is no remedy but that of necessity, there 
must be some rules ; therefore certain rules are here set forth, 
which as they are fete in number, so they are plain and easy 
to be understood. So that here you have an order for prayer, 
and for the reading of the holy Scripture, much agreeable to 
the mind and purpose of the old Fathers, and a great deal more 
profitable and commodious than that which of late ivas used. 
It is more profitable, because here are left out many things, 
whereof some are untrue, some uncertain, some vain and su- 
perstitious ; and nothing is ordained to be read, but the very 
pure word of God, the holy Scriptures, or that ivhich is agree- 

synod, the canons thereof were to be read in the churches, and the tenor of 
them to be declared and made known to the people ; and some of them to be 
annually repeated on certain Sundays in the year. 87 

* Pie.] The word pie some suppose derives its name from nival-, which 
the Greeks sometimes use for table or index : though others think these tables 
or indexes were called the pie, from the parti-coloured letters whereof they 
consisted ; the initial and some other remarkable letters and words being 
done in red, and the rest all in black. And upon this account, when they 
translate it into Latin, they call it pica. From whence it is supposed, that 
when printing came in use, those letters which were of a moderate size (i. e. 
about the bigness of those in these comments and tables) were called pica 
letters. 88 



8 ' See Dr. Nichols in his notes on the word synodals in the preface concerning the service of the Church. 
88 See Dr. Nichols, as above, upon the word pie. 



SECT. X.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



141 



able to the same ; and that, in such a language and order, as 
is most easy and 'plain for the understanding both of the readers 
and hearers: it is also more commodious, both for the short- 
ness thereof, and for the plainness of the order, and for that 
the rules be few and easy. 

§. 10. The Scripture being the word of God, and so a de- 
claration of his will ; the reading of it or making it known to 
the people is an act of authority, and therefore 
the minister that reads the Lessons is to stand. T t he mSSer/ 3 
And because it is an office directed to the congre- 
gation, by all the former Common Prayer Books it was ordered, 
that [to the end the people may the better hear) in such places 
where they do sing, there shall the Lessons be sung in a plain 
tune, after the manner of distinct reading . and likewise the 
Epistle and the Gospel. But that rubric is now left out, and 
the minister is only directed to read distinctly with an audi- 
ble voice, and to turn himself so as he may best be heard of 
all such as are present : which shews, that in time of prayer 
the minister used to look another way; a custom still observed 
in some parish-churches, where the reading pews 
have two desks ; one for the Bible, looking to- ^eSfoSs! 
wards the body of the church to the people ; 
another for the Prayer Book, looking towards the east or up- 
per end of the chancel ; in conformity to the practice of the 
primitive Church, which, as I have already observed, 89 paid a 
more than ordinary reverence in their worship towards the east. 

§.11. Before every Lesson the minister is direct- 
ed to give notice to" the people what chapter he JieLe^o^&c. 
reads, by saying, Here beginneth such a chapter, 
or verse of such a chapter of such a booh : that so the people, 
if they have their Bibles with them, may, by looking over them, 
be the more attentive. The care of the primitive Church in 
this case was very remarkable. Before the Lesson began, the 
deacon first stood up, calling out aloud, Let us listen, my 
brethren ; and then he that read invited his audience to atten- 
tion, by introducing the Lesson with these words : Thus saith 
the Lord. 90 After every Lesson the minister with us is also 
directed to give notice that it is finished, by saying, Here endeth 
the first or second Lesson; which is the form now prescribed 
instead of the old one, Here endeth such a chapter of such a 
hook, which were the words enjoined by all our former Liturgies. 

93 Page SC. so Chrysost. in Act. 9, Horn. 19. 



142 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. III. 



§. 12. As for the people, there is no posture 

Th the P peopTe. 0f prescribed for them ; but in former times they 
always stood, to shew their reverence. It is 
recorded of the Jews in the book of Nehemiah, 91 that when 
Ezra opened the hook of the law, in the sight of the people, 
all the people stood up. And in the first ages of Christianity 
those only were permitted to sit, who by reason of old age, or 
some other infirmity, were not able to stand throughout the 
whole time of divine service. 92 And it is very observable, 
that another ceremony used by the Christians of those times, 
before the reading of the Lessons, was the washing their 
hands, 93 a ceremony said to be still used by the Turks, before 
they touch their Alcoran, who also write thereupon, Let no 
unclean person touch this : 9i which should excite us at least 
to prepare ourselves in such a manner, as may fit us to hear 
the word of God, and to express such outward reverence, as 
may testify a due regard to its author. 

Sect. XI. — Of the Hymns in general. 

The use of hymns among Christians isundoubt- 

The hymJs! ty ° f edl y as old as the times of the Apostles : 95 and 
we learn, both from the observation of St. Au- 
gustin 96 and from the canons of the Church, 97 that hymns and 
psalms were intermingled with the Lessons, that so by variety 
the people might be secured against weariness and distraction. 
The reasonable- §• But besides antiquity, reason calls for 
ness of them after this interposition of hymns, in respect to the 
the Lessons. g rea t benefit we may receive from the word of 
God : for if we daily bless him for our ordinary meat and 
drink, how much more are we bound to glorify him for the 
food of our souls ? 

Whenfirstadded. §• 3 «. That we ma 7 * ot therefore want forms 
of praise proper for the occasion, the Church 
hath provided us with two after each Lesson, both in the 
morning and evening service ; leaving it to the discretion of 
him that ministereth, to use those which he thinks most con- 
venient and suitable: though in the first Common Prayer 
Book of king Edward VI. there was only one provided for a 

91 Chap. viii. 5. 92 August. Serm. 300, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 504, B. 

93 Chrys. Horn. 53, in Joan. torn. ii. p. 776, lin. 3, 4. 94 Mr. Gregory's Pref. to his 
Notes and Observations upon Scripture, p. 3. 95 Matt. xxvi. 30. Col. v. 16. James 
v. 13. germ. 176, torn. v. col. 839, D. 9 ? Concil. Laod. Can. 17, Concil. torn. i. 

col. 1500. B. 



SECT. Xl t J 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



143 



Lesson ; the hundredth, the ninety-eighth, and the sixty- 
seventh psalms not being added till 1552. The Te Deum 
and the Benedicite indeed were both in the first book ; but 
not for choice, but to be used one at one time of the year, and 
the other at another, as the next section will shew. 

Sect. XII. — Of the Hymns after the first Lessons. 

Having heard the holy precepts and useful 
examples, the comfortable promises and just 5S?s\ Lessons! 
threatenings, contained in the first Lesson, we im- 
mediately break out into praising God for illuminating our 
minds, for quickening our affections, for reviving our hopes, 
for awakening our sloth, and for confirming our resolutions. 

I. Lor our supply and assistance in which The Te Deum 
reasonable duty, the Church has provided us two and Benedicite, 
ancient hymns ; the one called Te Deum, from wh y socalled - 
the first words of it in Latin, (Te Deum laudamus, We praise 
thee, God ;) the other Benedicite, for the same reason, the 
beginning of it in Latin being Benedicite omnia opera Do- 
mini Domino „• or, O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the 
Lord. The former of these is now most frequently used, and 
the latter only upon some particular occasions. 

§. 2. The first (as it is generally believed) was 
composed by St. Ambrose for the baptism of St. ^{^iSf 
Augustin : 98 since which time it has ever been 
held in the greatest esteem, and daily repeated in the church : 
so that it is now of above thirteen hundred years standing. 
The hymn itself is rational and majestic, and in all particulars 
worthy of the spouse of Christ ; being above all the compo- 
sures of men uninspired, fittest for the tongues of men and 
angels. 

II. The other was an ancient hymn in the 

Jewish Church, and adopted into the public de- Ste?or soSfjf 
votions of the Christians from the most early the three chii- 
times. St. Cyprian quotes it as part of the holy " S anti ' 
Scriptures :" in which opinion he is seconded by 
Ruffinus, who very severely inveighs against St. Jerome for 
doubting of its divine authority; and informs us, that it was 
used in the Church long before his time, who himself lived 



Q8 St. Greg. lib. 3, Dial. cap. 4, mentions Dacius bishop of Milan, A. D. 560, who, in 
the first hook of the Chronicles writ by him, gives an account of this. See also St. 
Bennet Reg. cap. 11. De Orat. Dom. p. 142. 



144 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. Ill, 



A. D. 390. 100 And when afterwards it was left out by some 
that performed divine service, the fourth Council of Toledo, 
in the year 633, commanded it to be used, and excommuni- 
cated the priests that omitted it. 1 Our Church indeed does 
not receive it for canonical Scripture, because it is not to be 
found in the Hebrew, nor was allowed in the Jewish canon ; 
but it is notwithstanding an exact paraphrase of the hundred 
and forty-eighth psalm, and so like it in words and sense, that 
whoever despiseth this, reproacheth that part of the canonical 
writings. 

8. 2. As to the subject of it, it is an elegant 

The subject of it. 3 . n j, i , i • • ,• 

summons to all God s works to praise mm ; inti- 
mating that they all set out his glory, and invite us, who have 
the benefit of them, to join with these three children (to 
whom so great and wonderful a deliverance was given) in 
praising and magnifying the Lord for ever. 

§. 3. So that when we would glorify God for 
m wsed ert ° n * s wor ks, which is one main end of the Lord's 

day; or when the Lesson treats of the creation, 
or sets before us the wonderful works of God in any of his 
creatures, or the use he makes of them either ordinary or 
miraculous for the good of the Church ; this hymn may very 
seasonably be used. Though in the first Common Prayer 
Book of king Edward VI., Te Deum was appointed daily 
throughout the year, except in Lent, all the which time, in 
the place of Te Deum, Benedicite was to be used. So that, 
as I have already observed, they were not originally inserted 
for choice ; but to be used at different parts of the year. But 
when the second book came out with double hymns for the 
other Lessons ; these also were left indifferent at the discre- 
tion of the minister, and the words, Or this Canticle, inserted 
before the hymn we are now speaking of. 

III. After the first Lesson at evening 'prayer, 
cat,* or SeSg other hymns are appointed, both of them 

vkSn b Ma Sed ta ken out of canonical Scripture : the first is the 
rrgm ary. gon g f the blessed Virgin, called the Magnificat, 
from its first word in Latin. It is the first hymn recorded in 
the New Testament, and, from its ancient use among the 
primitive Christians, has been continued in the offices of the 
Reformed Churches abroad, 2 as well as in ours. 



100 Ruffin. 1. 2, adv. Hieron. * Can. 14, Concil. torn. v. col. 1710, C. D. 2 See 
Durell's View of the Reformed Churches, page 38. 



SECT. XIII.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



145 



For as the Holy Virgin, when she reflected upon the pro- 
mises of the Old Testament, now about to be fulfilled in the 
mysterious conception and happy birth, of which God had de- 
signed her to be the instrument, expressed her joy in this 
form ; so we, when we hear in the Lessons like examples of 
his mercy, and are told of those prophecies and promises 
which were then fulfilled, may not improperly rejoice with 
her in the same words, as having a proportionable share of 
interest in the same blessing. 

IV. But when the first Lesson treats of some 
great and temporal deliverance granted to the SgShpSimf 
peculiar people of God, we have the ninety- 
eighth psalm for variety ; which, though made on occasion of 
some of David's victories, may yet be very properly applied 
to ourselves, who, being God's adopted children, are a spirit- 
ual Israel* and therefore have all imaginable reason to bless 
God for the same, and to call upon the whole creation to join 
with us in thanksgiving. This was one of those which, I have 
already observed, was first added to king Edward's second 
Common Prayer. 

Sect. XIII. — Of the Hymns after the second Lessons. 

Having expressed our thankfulness to God in 
one of the above-mentioned hymns for the light f^^^ ^f 
and instruction we have received from the first 
Lesson; we are fitly disposed to hear the clearer revelations 
exhibited to us in the second. 

I. As to the second Lesson in the morning, it 0f the Be nedic- 
is always taken out either of the Gospels or the tus, or song of 
Acts ; which contain an historical account of the Zachanas - 
great work of our redemption : and therefore as the angel, 
that first published the glad tidings of salvation, was joined 
by a multitude of the heavenly host, who all brake forth in 
praises to God ; so when the same tidings are rehearsed by 
the priest, both he and the people immediately join their mu- 
tual gratulations, praising God, and saying, Blessed be the 
Lord God of Israel* for he hath visited and redeemed Ms 
people ; and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the 
house of Ms servant David, &c; being the hymn that was com- 
posed by good old Zacharias, at the circumcision of his son, 
St. John the Baptist, 3 and containing a thanksgiving to God 

s Luke i. 57. 



146 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. nr. 



for the incarnation of our Saviour, and for those unspeakable 
mercies which (though they were not then fully completed) 
were quickly afterwards the subject of the whole Church's 
praises. 

II. For variety the hundredth psalm was also 
^^Z^ appointed by king Edward's second book, in 

which all lands and nations are invited and call- 
ed upon to serve the Lord with gladness, and come before 
his presence with a song, for his exceeding grace, mercy, and 
truth, which are so eminently set forth in the Gospels. 

III. After the second Lesson at evening, which 
° fth mttS C Di " is alwa J s out of the Epistles, the Song of Simeon, 

called Nunc Dimittis, is most commonly used. 
The author of it is supposed to have been he whom the Jews 
call Simeon the Just, son to the famous Rabbi Hillel, 4 a man 
of eminent integrity, and one who opposed the then common 
opinion of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. The occasion of 
his composing it was his meeting Christ in the temple, when he 
came to be presented there, wherein God fulfilled his promise 
to him, that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ. 5 
And though we cannot see our Saviour with our bodily eyes, 
as he did, yet he is by the writings of the Apostles daily pre- 
sented to the eyes of our faith : and therefore if we were much 
concerned for heaven, and as loose from the love of the world 
as old Simeon was, and we ought to be ; we might, upon the 
view of Christ in his holy word, be daily ready to sing this 
hymn, which is taken into the services of all Christian Churches 
in the world, Greek, Roman, and Reformed, and was formerly 
very frequently sung by saints and martyrs a little before their 
deaths. 

IV. Instead of it sometimes the sixty-seventh 
^eShpsSmf" psalm is used, (being one of those that was intro- 
duced in king Edward's second Liturgy,) which 

being a prayer of David for the coming of the Gospel, is a pro- 
per form wherein to express our desires for the further pro- 
pagation of it. 

N. B. It ought to be noted, that both the sixty-seventh and 
hundredth psalms, being inserted in the Common Prayer 
Books in the ordinary version, ought so to be used, and not to 
be sung in Sternhold and Hopkins, or any other metre, as is 

* Vid. Scultet. Exercit. Evang. 1. 1, c. 61, and Lightfoot's Harmony on the place. 
- 5 Luke ii. 26. 



I 



SZCT. XIV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



147 



now the custom in too many churches, to the jostling out of 
the psalms themselves, expressly contrary to the design of the 
rubric : which, if not prevented, may in time make way for 
further innovations and gross irregularities. 

Sect. XIV. — Of the Apostles' Creed. 

Though the Scriptures be a perfect revelation , TheCreed 
of all divine truths necessary to salvation ; yet 
the fundamental articles of our faith are so dispersed there, 
that it was thought necessary to collect out of those sacred 
writings one plain and short summary of fundamental doctrines, 
which might easily be understood and remembered by all 
Christians. 

§. 2. This summary, from the first word in -why so caiiea. 
Latin, Credo, is commonly called the Creed,- Why called Sym- 
though in Latin it is called Symbolum, for which tohm1, 
several reasons are given : as, first, that it is an allusion to 
the custom of several persons meeting together to eat of one 
common supper, whither every one brings something for his 
share to make up that common meal, which from hence was 
called Symbolum, from the Greek word (rvfufiaXkeiv, which sig- 
nifies to throw or cast together : even so, say some, 6 the Apos- 
tles met together, and each one put or threw in his article to 
compose this symbol. 

Another signification of the word is fetched from military 
affairs, where it is used to denote those marks, signs, or watch- 
words, &c, whereby the soldiers of an army distinguished and 
knew each other : in like manner, as some think, 7 by this 
Creed the true soldiers of Jesus Christ were distinguished from 
all others, and discerned from those who were only false and 
hypocritical pretenders. 

But the most natural signification of the word seems to be 
derived from the pagan symbols, which were secret marks, 
words, or tokens communicated at the time of initiation, or a 
little before, unto those who were consecrated or entered into 
their reserved or hidden rites, and to none else ; by the de- 
claration, manifestation, or pronunciation whereof, those more 
devout idolaters knew each other, and were with all freedom 
and liberty of access admitted to their more intimate mysteries, 
i. e. to the secret worship and rites of that God, whose sym- 

6 Ruffin. Expos, in Symb. Apost. ad calcem Cypran. Oper. pag. 17. Cassian. de In- 
carn. Dom. 1. 6, c. 3, pag. 1046, Atrebat. 1628. 7 lluffin. ut supra. Maxim. Tauri- 
nens, Homil. in Symbol, ap Biblioth. Vet. Patr, Colon. Agrippin. 1618, torn, v.pag. 39. 

L 2 



148 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. III. 



bols they had received : from whence the multitude in general 
were kept out and excluded : which said symbols those who 
had received them were obliged carefully to conceal, and not, 
on any account whatsoever, to divulge or reveal. 8 And for 
the same reasons the Apostles' Creed is thought by some to 
have been termed a symbol, because it was studiously con- 
cealed from the pagan world, and not revealed to the cate- 
chumens themselves, till just before their baptism or initiation 
in the Christian mysteries ; when it was delivered to them as 
that secret note, mark, or token, by which the faithful in all 
parts of the world might, without any danger, make them- 
selves known to one another. 9 

§. 3. That the whole Creed, as we now use it, 
The antiquity of was d rawll lT p by the Apostles themselves, can 

hardly be proved : but that the greatest part of 
it was derived from the very days of the Apostles, is evident 
from the testimonies of the most ancient writers; 10 particu- 
larly of St. Ignatius, in whose epistles most of its articles are 
to be found : though there are some reasons to believe, that 
some few of them, viz. that of the descent into hell, the com- 
munion of saints, and the life everlasting, were not added till 
some time after, in opposition to some gross errors and here- 
sies that sprang up in the Church. But the whole form, as it 
now stands in our Liturgy, is to be found in the works of St. 
Ambrose and Ruffinus. 11 

§. 4. It is true indeed the primitive Christians, 
SdpuSiciy ky reason they always concealed this and their 

other mysteries, did not in their assemblies pub- 
licly recite the Creed, except at the times of baptism ; which, 
unless in cases of necessity, were only at Easter and Whitsun- 
tide. From whence it came to pass, that the constant repeat- 
ing of the Creed in the church was not introduced till five 
hundred years after Christ : about which time Petrus Gna- 
pheus, bishop of Antioch, prescribed the constant recital of 
the Creed at the public administration of divine service. 13 

The place of the §• 5 - T J e ?[ ace of itin our Liturgy may be 
creed in the Li- considered with respect both to what goes beiore, 
turgy - and what comes after it. That which goes be- 

fore it are the Lessons taken out of the word of God : for faith 

8 See instances of these symbols in the lord chief-justice King's Critical History of 
the Creed, chap. 1, p. 11, &c. 9 See this proved by the same author, p. 20, &c. 
10 Vid. Irenaeum, contr. Haeres. 1. 1, c. 2, p. 44. Tertull. de Virg. veland. c. 1, p. 175 
A. De Praescript. Haereticor. c. 13, p. 206, D. " In their Expositions upon it. 
12 Theodor. Lector. Histor. Eccles. p. 563, C 



SECT. XIV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



149 



comes by hearing ,- 13 and therefore when we have heard God's 
word, it is fit we should profess our belief of it, thereby set- 
ting our seals (as it were) to the truth of God, u especially to 
such articles as the chapters now read to us have confirmed. 
What follows the Creed are the prayers which are grounded 
upon it : for we cannot call on him in whom we have not be- 
lieved }° And therefore since we are to pray to God the 
Father, in the name of the Son, by the assistance of the Holy 
Ghost, for remission of sins, and a joyful resurrection ; we 
first declare that we believe in God the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, and that there is remission here, and a resurrec- 
tion to life hereafter, for all true members of the Catholic 
Church ; and then we may be said to pray in faith. 

§. 6. Both minister and people are appointed To be repe a ted 
to repeat this Creed ; because it is the profession by the whole 
of every person present, and ought for that rea- con s re g atlon - . 
son to be made by every one in his own person ; the more 
expressly to declare their belief of it to each other, and con- 
sequently to the whole Christian world, with whom they 
maintain communion. 

§.7. It is to be repeated standing, to signify standin 
our resolution to stand up stoutly in the defence an ing ' 
of it. And in Poland and Lithuania the nobles used formerly 
to draw their swords, in token that, if need were, they would 
defend and seal the truth of it with their blood. 16 

§. 8. When we repeat it, it is customary to 
turn towards the east, that so whilst we are making towsids the eas? 
profession of our faith in the blessed Trinity, we 
may look towards that quarter of the heavens where God is 
supposed to have his peculiar residence of glory. 17 

§. 9. When we come to the second article in Reverence t0 be 
this Creed, in which the name of Jesus is men- made at the name 
tioned, the whole congregation makes obeisance, of Jesus - 
which the Church (in regard to that passage of St. Paul, That 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow 18 ) expressly en- 
joins in her eighteenth canon : ordering, that when in time 
of divine service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and 
lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it 
has been accustomed ; testifying by these outward ceremonies 
and gestures their inward humility, Christian resolution, and 

»3 Rom. x. 17. 1* John iii. 33. ^ Rom. x. 14. « See Durell's View, &c. 
sect. 1, §. 24, page 37. v See Mr. Gregory, as quoted in note 38, p. 86. 1B Phil. ii. 10. 



150 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. Hi. 



due acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true, 
eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in 
whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to 
mankind for this life, and the life to come, are fully and 
wholly comprised. 

Sect. XV. — Of St. Athanasius's Creed. 

The creed of Whether this Creed was composed by Atha- 
Saint Athana- nasius or not, is matter of dispute : in the rubric 
S1US> before it, as enlarged at the review, it is only said 

to be commonly called the Creed of St. Aihanasius : but we 
are certain that it has been received as a treasure of ines- 
timable price both by the Greek and Latin Churches for al- 
most a thousand years. 

The scruple §• 2. As to the matter of it, it condemns all 

■which some ancient and modern heresies, and is the sum of 
ma e against it. a ^ or thodox divinity. And therefore if any 
scruple at the denying salvation to such as do not believe 
these articles ; let them remember, that such as hold any of 
those fundamental heresies are condemned in Scripture : 1J 
from whence it was a primitive custom, after a confession of 
the orthodox faith, to pass an anathema against all that denied 
it. But however, for the ease and satisfaction of some people 
who have a notion that this Creed requires every person to 
assent to, or believe, every verse in it on pain of damnation ; 
and who therefore (because there are several things in it which 
they cannot comprehend) scruple to repeat it for fear they 
should anathematize or condemn themselves ; I desire to offer 
what follows to their consideration, viz. That howsoever plain 
and agreeable to reason every verse in this Creed may be; 
yet we are not required, by the words of the Creed, to believe 
the whole on pain of damnation. For all that is required of 
us as necessary to salvation, is, that before all things we hold 
the catholic faith: and the catholic faith is by the third and 
fourth verses explained to be this, that we worship one God 
in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity : neither confounding the 
persons, nor dividing the substance. This therefore is de- 
clared necessary to be believed : but all that follows from 
hence to the twenty-sixth verse, is only brought as a proof 
and illustration of it ; and therefore requires our assent no 
more than a sermon does, which is made to prove or illustrate 

10 1 John ii. 22, 23. v. 10. 2 Fet. ii. I. 



6ECT. XVI.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



151 



a text. The text, we know, is the word of God, and therefore 
necessary to be believed : but no person is, for that reason, 
bound to believe every particular of the sermon deduced from 
it, upon pain of damnation, though every tittle of it may be 
true. The same I take it to be in this Creed : the belief of 
the catholic faith before mentioned, the Scripture makes ne- 
cessary to salvation, and therefore we must believe it: but 
there is no such necessity laid upon us to believe the illustra- 
tion that is there given of it, nor does the Creed itself require 
it : for it goes on in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses 
in these words, So that in all things as is aforesaid, the Unity 
in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to he worshipped : he 
therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity. 
Where it plainly passes off from that illustration, and returns 
back to the fourth and fifth verses, requiring only our belief 
of the catholic faith, as there expressed, as necessary to sal- 
vation, viz. that One God or Unity in Trinity and Trinity in 
Unity is to be worshipped. All the rest of the Creed, from 
the twenty-seventh verse to the end, relates to our Saviour's 
incarnation ; which indeed is another essential part of our 
faith, and as necessary to be believed as the former : but that 
being expressed in such plain terms as none, I suppose, scru- 
ple, I need not enlarge any further. 

§. 3. The reasons why this Creed is appointed Wh gaidon 
to be said upon those days specified in the rubric, thosVdaysmen ; 
are, because some of them are more proper for in the - J 
this confession of faith, which, being of all others 
the most express concerning the Trinity, is for that reason 
appointed on Christmas -day , Epiphany, Easter-day, Ascen- 
sion-day, IVliit - Sunday , and Trinity Sunday ; which were 
all the days that were appointed for it by the first book of 
king Edward : but in his second book it was also enjoined on 
Saint Matthias, and some other saints-days, that so it might 
be repeated once in every month. 

Sect. XVI. — Of the Ver sides before the Lord's Prayer. 

The congregation having now their consciences The good order 
absolved from sin, their affections warmed with and method of 
thanksgiving, their understandings enlightened ourseivlce - 
by the word, and their faith strengthened by a public profes- 
sion, enter solemnly in the next place upon the remaining 
part of divine worship, viz. supplication and prayer, that is,. 



152 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. m. 



to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well 
for the body as the soul. 

§. 2. But because thev are not able to do this 
Pr 'wifh e you dbe without God's help, therefore the minister first 

blesses them with The Lord be with you ; which, 
it must be observed too, is a very proper salutation in this place, 
viz. after a public and solemn profession of their faith. For St. 
John forbids us to say to any heretic, God speed ; 20 and the 
primitive Christians were never allowed to salute any that 
were excommunicated. 21 But when the minister hath heard 
the whole congregation rehearse the Creed, and seen, by 
their standing up at it, a testimony of their assent to it ; he 
can now salute them as brethren and members of the Church. 
But because he is their representative and mouth to God, they 

return his salutation, immediately replying, And 
^"thy spidt^ with thy spirit : both which sentences are taken 

out of holy Scripture, 22 and together with that 
salutation, Peace be with you, (which was generally used by 
the bishop, instead of The Lord be with you?*) have been of 
very early use in the Church, 24 especially in the eastern part 
of it, to which, as an ancient Council says, 25 they were de- 
livered down by the Apostles themselves : and it is observ- 
able that they always denoted (as here) a transition from one 
part of the divine service to another. 

p r L t §• 3. In the heathen sacrifices there was al- 

r. e us pray. wa ^ s Qne tQ cr ^ jp QC agfa^ Q r to bid them mind 

what they were about. And in all the old Christian Liturgies 
the deacon was wont to call often upon the people, eicrevLog 
Ztr]du)fxev, Let us pray earnestly ; and then again, tK-evearepov, 
more earnestly. And the same vehemence and earnest de- 
votion does our Church call for in these words, Let us pray ; 
warning us thereby to lay aside all wandering thoughts, and 
to attend to the great work we are about ; for though the 
minister only speaks most of the words, yet our affections 
must go along with every petition, and sign them all at last 
with an hearty Amen. 

§. 4. But being unclean, like the lepers re- 
mercyup d on a us e . corded by St. Luke, 26 before we come to address 
ourselves to God, we begin to cry, Lord have 

20 2 John 10, 11. 21 Capital. Carol. Ma?. 1. 5. c. 42. 22 Ruth ii. 4. 2 Thess. iiL 
16. 2 Tim. iv. 22. Gal. vi. IS. 23 Durand. Rational, lib. 4, c. 14, §. 7, fol. 111. 

* l Chrys. in Coloss. 1, Horn. 3, torn. 4, p. 107, lin. 3, &c. Isid. Peleus. 1. 1, Ep. 122, p. 
44, A. 25 Concil. Bracar. 2, cap. 3, torn. v. col. 740, B. 83 Luke xvii. 12, 13. 



S2CT. XVII.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



153 



mercy on us ; lest, if we should unworthily call him Our 
Father, he upbraid us as he did the Jews, If I he a father, 
where is mine honour? 27 And it is to be observed, that the 
Church hath such an awful reverence for the Lord's Prayer, 
that she seldom suffers it to be used without some preceding 
preparation. In the beginning of the morning and evening 
service we are prepared by the confession of our sins, and the 
absolution of the priest ; and very commonly in other places 
by this short litany : whereby we are taught first to bewail 
our unworthiness, and pray for mercy ; and then with an 
humble boldness to look up to heaven, and call God Our 
Father, and beg further blessings of him. 

As to the original of this form, it is taken out of the Psalms, 28 
where it is sometimes repeated twice together ; to which the 
Christian Church hath added a third, viz. C/wist have mercy 
upon us, that so it might be a short litany or supplication to 
every person in the blessed Trinity : we have offended each 
person, and are to pray to each, and therefore we beg help 
from them all. 

It is of great antiquity both in the Eastern and Western 
Churches ; and an old Council orders it to be used there times 
a day in the public service. 29 And we are informed that 
Constantinople was delivered from an earthquake by the peo- 
ple going barefoot in procession and using this short litany. 30 

N. B. The clerk and people are here to take Thec ierkand 
notice not to repeat the last of these versicles, people not to re- 
viz. Lord have mercy upon us, after the minister. mSc^Zponll 
In the end of the Litany indeed they ought to ? s f J^ themin " 
do it, because there they are directed to say all 
the three versicles distinctly after him ; each of them being re- 
peated in the Common Prayer Book, viz. first in a Roman 
letter for the priest, and then in an Italic, which denotes the 
people's response. But in the daily morning and evening ser- 
vice, in the office for solemnization of matrimony, in those 
for the visitation of the sick, for the burial of the dead, for 
the churching of women, and in the commination, where 
these versicles are single, and only the second printed in an 
Italic character, there they are to be repeated alternately, and 
not by way of repetition : so that none but the second versi- 
cle, viz. Christ have mercy upon us, comes to the people's 
turn, the first and last belonging to the minister. 

2? Mai. i. 6. 2S Psalm vi. 2. li. 1. cxxiii. 3. 29 Concil. Vasens. 2, Can. 3, torn. 
iV. col. 1C80, C so Paul. Diacon. 1. 16, c. 24. 



154 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap, tli 



Sect. XVIL— Of the Lord's Prayer. 

The Lord's " ^he minister, clerk, and people, being pre- 
Prayer, why re- pared in the manner that we have described 
peated. above, are now again to say the Lord's Prayer 

with a loud voice. For this consecrates and makes way for 
all the rest, and is therefore now again repeated. By which 
repetition we have this further advantage, that if we did not put 
up any petition of it with fervency enough before, we may make 
amends for it now, by asking that with a doubled earnestness. 

§. 2. By the clerks in this rubric (which was 
SSed by them. first inserted in the second book of king Edward) 
I suppose were meant such persons as were ap- 
pointed at the beginning of the Reformation, to attend the in- 
cumbent in his performance of the offices ; and such as are 
still in some cathedral and collegiate churches, which have 
lay-clerks (as they are called, being not always ordained) to 
lookout the Lessons, name the anthem, set the Psalms, and the 
like : 31 of which sort I take our parish clerks to be, though we 
have now seldom more than one to a church. 

Sect. XVIII. — Of the Versicles after the Lord's Prayer. 

The versicles Before the minister begins to pray alone for 
the people, they are to join with him (according 
to the primitive way of praying) in some short versicles and 
responsals taken chiefly out of the Psalms, and containing the 
sum of all the following collects. 

To the first, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us, — and grant 
us thy salvation?' 1 answers the Sunday collect, which gener- 
ally contains petitions for mercy and salvation. To the second, 
Lord, save the king, — and mercifully hear us when we 
call upon thee,™ answer the prayers for the king and royal 
family. To the third, Endue thy ministers with righteous- 
ness, — and make thy chosen people joyf ul and the fourth, 
Lord, save thy people, — and bless thine inheritance ; 35 an- } 
swers the collect for the clergy and people. To the fifth, 
Give peace in our time, O Lord, — because there is none other 
that Jighteth for us, but only thou, O God,™ answer the daily 
collects for peace : and to the last, O God, make clean our 
hearts within us, and take not thy Holy Spirit from us, 31 
answer the daily collects for grace. 

31 See the Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 202, 203. 32 Psalm Ixxxv. 7. 33 Psalm 
xx. verse the last, according to the Greek translation. 3 * Psalm cxxxii. 9. 35 Psalm 
xxviii. 9. 3o 1 Chron. xxii. 9. 3 ' Psalm ii. 10.11. 



SECT. XIX.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



155 



§. 2. Against two of these versicles it is ob- 
jected, that the Church enjoins us to pray to God A %$££F 
to give peace in our time, for this odd reason, 
viz. because there is none other that fight eth for us but only 
God. But to this we answer, that the Church by these words 
does by no means imply, that the only reason of our desiring 
peace, is because we have none other to fight for us, save God 
alone ; as if we could be well enough content to be engaged 
in war, had we any other to fight for us, besides God : but 
they are a more full declaration and acknowledgment of that 
forlorn condition we are in, who are not able to help ourselves, 
and who cannot depend upon man for help ; which we confess 
and lay before Almighty God, to excite the greater compas- 
sion in his divine Majesty. And thus the Psalmist cries out 
to God, Be not far from me, for trouble is near ; for there 
is none to help. 3s 

§. 3. The rubric which orders the priest to 
stand up to say these versicles, (which was first 52r is h to™Snd 
added in 1552,) I imagine to have been founded u P at these v er- 

- sides 

upon the practice of the priests in the Romish 
Church. For it is a custom there for the priest, at all the 
long prayers, to kneel before the altar, and mutter them over 
softly by himself : but whenever he comes to any versicles 
where the people are to make their responses, he rises up and 
turns himself to them, in order to be heard : which custom 
the compilers of our Liturgy might probably have in their eye, 
when they ordered the minister to stand up in this place. 

Sect. XIX. — Of the Collects and Prayers in general. 
Before we come to speak of each of the fol- mi 

, . . . r , . , The prayers, -why 

lowing prayers m particular, it may not be amiss divided into so 
to observe one thing concerning them in general, sllort col ~ 
viz. the reason why they are not carried on in one 
continued discourse, but divided into many short collects, 
such as is that which our Lord himself composed. And that 
might be one reason why our Church so ordered it, viz. that 
so she might follow the example of our Lord, who best knew 
what kind of prayers were fittest for us to use. And indeed 
we cannot but find, by our own experience, how difficult it is 
to keep our minds long intent upon any thing, much more up- 
on so great things as the object and subject of our prayers ; 
and that, do what we can, we are still liable to wanderings and 

38 Psalm xxii. 11. 



156 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap. III. 



distractions : so that there is a kind of necessity to break off 
sometimes, that our thoughts, being respited for a while, may 
with more ease be fixed again, as it is necessary they should, 
so long as we are actually praying to the Supreme Being of 
the world. 

But besides, in order to the performing our devotions 
aright to the most high God, it is necessary that our souls 
should be possessed all along with due apprehensions of his 
greatness and glory. To which purpose our short prayers 
contribute very much. For every one of them beginning 
with some of the attributes or perfections of God, and so sug- 
gesting to us right apprehensions of him at first, it is easy to 
preserve them in our minds during the space of a short prayer, 
which in a long one would be too apt to scatter and vanish away. 

But one of the principal reasons why our public devotions 
are and should be divided into short collects, is this : our 
blessed Saviour, we know, hath often told us, that whatsoever 
we ask the Father in his name he will give it us ,- 39 and so 
hath directed us in all our prayers to make use of his name, 
and to ask nothing but upon the account of his merit and 
mediation for us : upon which all our hopes and expectations 
from God do wholly depend. For this reason therefore (as it 
always was, so also now) it cannot but be judged necessary, that 
the name of Christ be frequently inserted in our prayers, that 
so we may lift up our hearts unto him, and rest our faith upon 
him, for the obtaining those good things we pray for. And 
therefore whatsoever it be which we ask of God, we presently 
add, through Jesus Christ our Lord, or something to that 
effect; and so ask nothing but according to our Lord's direc- 
tion, i. e. in his name. And this is the reason that makes our 
prayers so short : for take away the conclusion of every collect 
or prayer, and they may be joined all together, and be made 
but as one continued prayer. But would not this tend to 
make us forgetful that we are to offer up our prayers in the 
name of Christ, by taking away that which refresheth our 
memory ? 

§. 2. The reason why these prayers are so often 
^conects kd called collects is differently represented. Some 
ritualists think, because the word collect is some- 
times used both in the vulgar Latin Bible, 40 and by the an- 
cient Fathers, 41 to denote the gathering together of the people 

John xiv. 13, and xvi. 24. 4° Dies Collectee, Lev. xxiii. 36. Collectionem, 
Heb. x. 25. *i Collection celebrare. Passim apud Patres. 



SECT. XX.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



157 



into religious assemblies ; that therefore the prayers are called 
collects, as being repeated when the people are collected to- 
gether. 43 Others think they are so named upon account of 
their comprehensive brevity ; the minister collecting into short 
forms the petitions of the people, which had before been di- 
vided between him and them by versicles and responses: 43 
and for this reason God is desired in some of them to liear the 
payers and supplications of the people. Though I think it 
is very probable that the collects for the Sundays and Holy- 
days bear that name, upon account that a great many of them 
are very evidently collected out of the Epistles and Gospels. 

Sect. XX. — Of the three Collects at Morning and Evening Prayer. 

The next thing to be taken notice of is the The rubric after 
rubric that follows the versicles after the Lord's the Lord's 

.1 • • • prayer. 

prayer m the morning service, viz. 

Then shall follow three Collects : the first of the Day, which 
shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion; the 
second for Peace ; the third for Grace to live well. And 
the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at 
Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth ; all 
kneeling. 

There is much the same rubric in the evening service ; only 
whereas the third collect for the morning is entitled , for grace 
to live well ; the title of that for the evening is, for aid against 
all perils. 

I. The first of these collects, viz. that of the 

day, to be the same that is appointed at the 0f ^JeSSy!* for 
communion, will fall under my particular con- 
sideration, when I come to treat of the several Sundays and 
Holy-days, which will naturally lead me to take notice of the 
several collects that belong to them. 

II. The second collect, for peace, both for the 

morning and evening service, are, word for word, 0f th p e C j[S! ctf()ir 
translated out of the Sacramentary of St. Gre- 
gory ; each of them being suited to the office it is assigned to. 
In that which we use in the beginning of the day, when we 
are going to engage ourselves in various affairs, and to con- 
verse with the world, we pray for outward peace, and desire 
to be preserved from the injuries, affronts, and wicked de- 

42 A populi collectione, Collectas appellari cceperunt. Alcuinus. 

<3 Sacerdos omnium petitiones compendiosa brevitate colligit. Walafrid. Strabo. 



158 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[chap, ni- 



signs of men. But in that for the evening we ask for inward 
tranquillity, requesting for that peace which the world cannot 
give, as springing only from the testimony of a good con- 
science : that so each of us may with Dayid be enabled to say, 
I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest ; having our 
hearts as easy as our heads, and our sleep sweet and quiet. 

III. The third collects, both at morning and 



° f for gr°ace CtS evening, are framed out of the Greek euchologion. 



That in the morning service, for grace, is very 
proper to be used in the beginning of the day, when we are 
probably going to be exposed to various dangers and tempta- 
tions. Nor is the other, for aid against all perils, 
gainst°aUpe5is. ^ ess seasonable at night ; for being then in dan- 
ger of the terrors of darkness, we by this form 
commend ourselves into the hands of that God, who neither 
slumbers nor sleeps, and with whom darkness and light are 
both alike. 

Sect. XXI.—OftheA?ithem. 

\nthem After the aforesaid collects, as well at morn- 
n em ' ing prayer as at evening, the rubric orders, that 
in choirs and places where they sing, here followeth the an- 
them ; the original of which is probably derived 

an h dS!ity. from the vev J first Christians - For Pliny has 
recorded that it was the custom in his time to 
meet upon a fixed day before light, and to sing a hymn, in 
parts or by turns, to Christ, as God : u which expression can 
hardly have any other sense put upon it, than that they sung 
in an antiphonical way. Socrates indeed attributes the rise of 
them to St. Ignatius, who, when he had heard the angels in 
heaven singing and answering one another in hymns to God, 
ordered that, in the church of Antioch, psalms of praise should 
be composed and set to music, and sung in parts by the choir 
in the time of divine service ; 45 which, from the manner of 
singing them, were called avrifywva, antiphons, or anthems, 
i. e. hymns sung in parts, or by course. This practice was 
soon imitated by the whole Church, and has universally ob- 
tained ever since. 

§. 2. The reason of its being ordered in this 
my her b e e . SUng P lace is P artl y perhaps for the relief of the con- 
gregation, who, if they have joined with due fer- 

« Plin. Epist. I. 10, Ep. 97, p. 284. edit. Oxon. 1703. 45 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 6, 
cap. 8, p. 313, D. 



sect, xxii.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



159 



vour in the foregoing parts'of the office, may now be thought 
to be something weary ; and partly, I suppose, to make a 
division in the service, the former part of it being performed 
in behalf of ourselves, and that which follows being mostly 
intercessional. 

8. 3. And therefore since it is now grown a „. . 

<J , . ° , This the proper 

custom, m a great many churches, to sing a psalm place for singing 
in metre in the middle of the service ; I cannot P salms - 
see why it would not be more proper here, than just after the 
second Lesson, where a hymn is purposely provided by the 
Church to follow it. I have already showed the irregularity of 
singing the hymn itself in metre : and to sing a different psalm 
between the Lesson and the psalm appointed, is no less irregu- 
lar. And therefore certainly this must be the most proper place 
for singing, (if there must be singing before the service is end- 
ed,) since it seems much more timely and conformable to the 
rubric, and moreover does honour to the singing-psalms them- 
selves, by making them supply the place of anthems. 

Sect. XXII. — Of the Prayer for the King. 

We have been hitherto only praying for our- 
selves ; but since we are commanded to pray for Th ?h?kiS. f ° r 
all men^ we now proceed, in obedience to that 
command, to pray for the whole Church ; and in the first 
place for the king, whom, under Christ, we acknowledge to 
be the supreme governor of this part of it to which we belong. 
And since the supreme King of all the world is God, by whom 
all mortal kings reign ; and since his authority sets them up, 
and his power only can defend them ; therefore all mankind, 
as it were by common consent, have agreed to pray to God for 
their rulers. The heathens offered sacrifices, prayers, and 
vows for their welfare : and the Jews (as we may see by the 
Psalms 47 ) always made their prayers for the king a part of 
their public devotion. And all the ancient Fathers, Liturgies, 
and Councils fully evidence, that the same was done daily by 
Christians : and this not only for those that encouraged them, 
but even for such as opposed them, and were enemies to the 
faith. Afterwards indeed, when the emperors became Chris- 
tian, they particularly named them in their offices, with titles 
expressing the dearest affection, and most honourable respect; 
and prayed for them in as loyal and as hearty terms as are in- 

« 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. *t p sa lm xx. and Ixxii. 



160 



OF THE ORDER FOR 



[CHAP. Ill, 



eluded in the prayer we are now speaking of: which is taken 
almost verbatim out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but 
was not inserted in our Liturgy till the reign of queen Eliza- 
beth ; when our reformers observing that, by the 
^SrS^Sf Liturgies of king Edward, the queen could not 
be prayed for, but upon those days when either 
the Litany or Communion-office was to be used, they found 
it necessary to add a form, to supply the defect of the daily 
service. 

Sect. XXIII. — Of the Prayer for the Royal Family. 

The prayer for There is as near an alliance between this and 
the royal , the former prayer, as between the persons for 
family. whom they are made. And we may observe that 

the Persian emperor Darius desired the Jewish priests to pray 
not only for the king, but his sons too; 48 and the Romans 
prayed for the heirs of the empire, as well as the emperor 
himself. 49 The primitive Christians prayed also for the im- 
perial family; 50 and the canons of old Councils both at home 

and abroad enjoin the same. 51 In our own Church 
^ou^iSurgy* indeed there was no mention made of the royal 

family till the reign of king James L, because 
after the Reformation no protestant prince had children till 
he came to the throne. But at his accession, this prayer was 
immediately added ; except that the beginning of it, when it 
was first inserted, was, Almighty God, which hast promised 
to be a father of thine elect, and of their seed : but this, I 
suppose, being thought to savour a little of Calvinism, was 
altered about the year 1632 or 33, when {Frederic the prince 
elector palatine, the lady Elizabeth his wife, with their 
princely issue, being left out) these words were changed into, 
Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness. 

Sect. XXIV. — Of the Prayer for the Clergy and People. 

The prayer for Having thus made our supplications for our 
the clergy and temporal governors, that under them we may 
people. have all those outward blessings which will make 

our lives comfortable here ; we proceed, in the next place, 
to pray for our spiritual guides, that with them we may re- 
ceive all those graces and inward blessings which will make 

48 Ezra vi. 10. 49 Tacit. Annal. 1. 4. 50 Liturg. S. Basil. 51 Excerpt. Egberti, 
Can. 7, Spelm. torn. i. p. 259. Concil. Rhemens. 2, Can. 40, torn. vii. col. 1285, C. 



S£CT. XXV.] 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



161 



our souls happy hereafter. We are members of the Church 
as well as of the State, and therefore we must pray for the 
prosperity of both, since they mutually defend and support 
each other. That we might not want a form 
therefore suitable and good, this prayer was add- ^dd e !i rst 
ed in queen Elizabeth's Common Prayer Book, 
out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, in conformity to the 
practice of the ancient Church, which always had prayers for 
the clergy and people. 52 

§. 2. And because to gather a Church at first 
out of infidels, and then to protect it continually lv ho^ionework- 
from its enemies, is an act of as great power, and e v s * l % reat mar " 
a greater miracle of love than to create the world ; 
therefore in the preface of this prayer we may properly ad- 
dress ourselves to God, as to him who alone worketh great 
marvels : though it is not improbable that those words might 
be added with a view to the miraculous descent of the Holy 
Ghost upon the twelve Apostles on the day of Pentecost. 

§. 3. By the word curates in this prayer, are 
meant all" that are intrusted with the cure or Cur t hey 'b7 h ° 
care of souls, whether they be the incumbents 
themselves, who from that cure were anciently called curates ; 
or those whom we now more generally call so, from assisting 
incumbents in their said cure. 

Sect. XXY. — Of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom. 
Where ancient Liturgies afforded proper pray- 
ers, the compilers of ours rather chose to retain s?ch5ysostom. 
them than make new ones : and therefore as 
some are taken from the Western offices, so is this from the 
Eastern ; where it is daily used, with very little difference, in 
the Liturgies both of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom ; the last 
of which was the undoubted author of it. It is inserted in- 
deed in the middle of their Liturgies ; but in ours, I think 
more properly, at the conclusion. Eor it is fit, that, in the 
close of our prayers, we should first reflect on all those great 
and necessary requests we have made, and then not only re- 
new our desires that God may grant them, but also stir up 
our hearts to hope he will. To which end we address our- 
selves in this prayer to the second Person in the glorious 

r ' 2 Syncs. Ep. 11, p. 173, B. Excerpt. Egberti, Can. 8, Spelm. torn. i. p. 229. Concil. 
Calchuthens. Can. 10, torn. vi. col. 1816, A. 



162 



MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 



[CHAP. III. 



Trinity, our blessed Saviour, and remind him of the gracious 
promise he made to us when on earth, that where two or 
three are gathered together in his name, he would be there in 
the midst of them ;™ and therefore if we can but prevail with 
him to hear our desires and 'petitions, we know that the pow- 
er of his intercession with God is so great, that we need not 
doubt but we shall obtain them. But however, since it may 
happen that we may have asked some things which he may 
not think convenient for us ; we do not peremptorily desire 
that he would give us all we have prayed for, but submit our 
prayers to his heavenly will ; and only request that he would 
fulfil our desires and petitions as may be most expedient for 
us : begging nothing positively, but what we are sure we can- 
not be too importunate for, viz. in this world knowledge of 
his truth, and in the world to come life everlasting . This 
we may ask peremptorily, without fear of arrogance or pre- 
sumption ; and yet this is all we really stand in need of. 

§. 2. Neither this nor the following benedic- 
1V added! St tory prayer is at the end of either the morning 
or evening service, in any of the old Common 
Prayer Books ; which all of them conclude with the third 
collect. But the prayer of St. Chrysostom is at the end of 
the Litany, from the very first book of king Edward ; and 
the benedictory prayer from that of queen Elizabeth ; and 
there also stood the prayers for the king, the royal family, 
for the clergy and people, till the last review. And I suppose, 
though not printed, they were always used, as now, at the 
conclusion of the daily service. Eor after the third collect, 
the Scotch Liturgy directs, that they shall follow the prayer . 
for the king's Majesty, with the rest of the prayers at the end 
of the Litany to the benediction. 

Sect. XXVI.— Of 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 
... The whole service being thus finished, the 

2 Cor. xiii. 14. . . . . • i i & i t 

minister closes it with that benedictory prayer 
of St. Paul, with which he concludes most of his Epistles : a 
form of blessing which the Holy Spirit seems, by the repeated 
use of it, to have delivered to the Church to be used instead 
of that old Jewish form, with which the priest under the law 
dismissed the congregation. 54 The reason of its being changed 
was undoubtedly owing to the new revelation made of the 

53 Matt, xviii. 20. w Numb. vi. 23. &c. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



163 



three Persons in the Godhead. For otherwise the Jews both 
worshipped and blessed in the name of the same God as the 
Christians ; only their devotions had respect chiefly to the 
Unity of the Godhead, whereas ours comprehend also the 
Trinity of Persons. 

S. 2. I must not forget to observe, that the form >T x 

, ° j • j "i ■ \ Not a blessing. 

here used m our daily service is rather a prayer 
than a blessing,- since there is no alteration either of person or 
posture prescribed to the minister, but he is directed to pro- 
nounce it kneeling, and to include himself as well as the people. 



CHAPTER IV. 
OF THE LITANY. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

After the order for the morning and evening The si g nificat i on 
prayer in our present Liturgy, as well as in all of the word 
the old ones, stands the confession of our Chris- Lltany - 
iian faith, commonly called the Creed of Athanasius? which 
hath already been spoken to : and then folio weth the Litany 
or general supplication to be sung or said after morning pray- 
er, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at all 
other times when it shall be commanded by the ordinary. 
The word Litany, as it is explained by our present Liturgy, 
signifies a general supplication ; and so it is used by the most 
ancient heathens, viz. "for an earnest supplication to the gods 
made in time of adverse fortune ; 2 and in the same sense it 
is used in the Christian Church, viz. for a supplication and 
common intercession to God, when his wrath lies heavy upon 
us." 3 Such a kind of supplication was the fifty-first psalm, 
which may be called David's litany. Such was that litany of 
God's appointing in Joel, 4 where, in a general assembly, the 
priests were to weep between the porch and the altar, and to 
say, Spare thy people, O Lord .• (in allusion to which place, 

1 The words commonly called the Creed of Athanasius were added at the Restora- 
tion. ' 2 FloWd be. Kat ffnevboiv xpvotu) S4nai Anavevev. Horn. 11. <t>tXior Anivevc 
Tonria? Mfj-riv aviuppdoacOat. Hesiod. Theog. 3 Anavela 66 eari 7rapdx\rj<riy mpos 

Ocoi/, «at iKeo-la— <5<' op7>J" Infpeponivnv' Symeon. Thessal. Opusc. de Hseret. 
4 Joel ii. 17. 

M 2 



164 



OF THE LITANY. 



[chap. IV. 



our Litany, retaining also the same words, is enjoined, by the 
royal injunctions still in force, 5 to be said or sung in the midst 
Why sung in the °^ ^ e cnurcn » at a l° w desk before the chancel 
midst of the door, anciently called the failed stool. 6 ) And 
church. guc j l wag t j lat ij tan y f our Saviour, 7 which he 

thrice repeated with strong crying and tears? 

The antiquity of §• 2 ' As f ° r the f 0Vm in which the J . are n0W 

litanies in this made, viz. in short requests by the priests, to 
which the people all answer, it appears to be very 
ancient ; for St. Basil tells us, that litanies were read in the 
church of Neoceesarea, between Gregory Thaumaturgus's time 
and his own. 9 And St. Ambrose hath left a form of litany, 
which bears his name, agreeing in many things with this of 
ours. For when miraculous gifts began to cease, they wrote 
down several of those forms, which were the original of our 
modern office. 

§. 3. About the year 400 they began to be used 
LU p?oces"ira. in m procession, the people walking barefoot, and 
saying them with great devotion ; by which means, 
it is said, several countries were delivered from great calami- 
ties. 10 About the year 600, Gregory the Great, out of all the 
litanies extant, composed that famous sevenfold litany, 11 by 
which Rome was delivered from a grievous mortality ; 13 which 
hath been a pattern to all the Western Churches since ; and 
to which ours comes nearer than that in the present Roman 
Missal, wherein later popes had put in the invocation of saints, 
which our reformers have justly expunged. But here we must 
observe, that litanies were of use before processions, and re- 
mained when they were taken away. For those processional 
litanies having occasioned much scandal, it was decreed " that 
the litanies should for the future only be used within the walls 
of the church ; " 13 and so they are used amongst us to this day. 
Whysaidonsun- . §• . 4 - In the Common Prayer Book of 1549, 
days, Wednes- (i. e. in the first book of king Edward,) the Litany 
days.andFridays. wag place( i between the communion office, and 



5 Injunctions of Edward VI. and of queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1559, in bishop Sparrow's 
Collect, p. 8 and 72. 6 See a note of bishop Andrews, in Dr. Nichols's Additional 
Notes, p. 22, col. 1. 7 Luke xxii. 44. 8 Heb. v. 7. 9 Basil. Ep. 63, ad Neocaesar. 
10 Vid. Niceph. Hist. 1. 14, c. 3, torn. ii. p. 443, A. 11 It was called Litania septi- 
formis, or the sevenfold litany, because he ordered the Church to make their procession 
in seven classes : viz. first the clergy, then the laymen, next the monks, after the vir- 
gins, then the married women, next the widows, last of all the poor and the children. 
Vide Greg. lib. 11, Ep. 2, and Strabo de Offic. Eccles. c. 28. 12 Paul. Diac. 1. 18, et 
Balaeus in Vit. Greg. 13 Concil. Coloniens. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



165 



the office for baptism, with this single title, The Letany 14 and 
Suffrages, and without any rubric either before or after it. 
But at the end of the communion office the first rubric began 
thus : Upon Wednesdays and Fridays the English Litany 
shall he said or sung in all places, after such form as is ap- 
pointed by the King's Majesty's Injunctions : or as it shall be 
otherwise appointed by his Highness. What this form was I 
shall mention presently from the Injunctions themselves : but 
first I must observe, that Wednesdays and Fridays are here only 
mentioned, which were the ancient fasting-days of the primi- 
tive Church : 15 the death of Christ being designed on the 
Wednesday, when he was sold by Judas, and accomplished 
on the Friday, when he died on the cross. 16 As to Sunday, 
I find no direction relating to it ; though I conclude from two 
other rubrics, which dispense with the use of it on some par- 
ticular Sundays, that it was generally used on all the rest. For 
among the notes of explication at the end of that book, the 
two last allow that upon Christmas-day, Easter-day, the As- 
cension-day, Whit-Sunday, and the feast of Trinity, may be 
used any part of holy Scripture, hereafter to be certainly 
limited and appointed instead of the Litany. And that if there 
be a sermon, or for other great cause, the curate by his discre- 
tion may leave out the Litany, the Gloria in Excelsis, the 
Creed, the Homily, and the Exhortation to the Communion. 
But in the review of the Common Prayer in 1552, the Litany 
was placed where it stands at this time, with direction at the 
beginning, that it should be used on Sundays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays ; and at other times when it shall be commanded 
by the ordinary. And the order for Sunday has continued 
ever since ; I suppose partly because there is then the greatest 
assembly to join in so important a supplication, and partly 
that no day might seem to have a more solemn office than the 
Lord's day. 

§.5. The particular time of the day when what time of the 
it is to be said seems now different from what it day it is to be 
was formerly : in king Edward's and queen Eli- used " 
zabeth's time, it seems it was used as preparatory to the second 
service. For by their Injunctions 17 it was ordered, that im- 
mediately before high mass, or the time of communion of 

u So the word was spelt in all the old Common Prayer Books. 15 Clem. Alex. 
Strom. 7, c. 744, B. Tertul. de Jejun. c. 2, p. 545, A. Epiphan. adv. Haeres. 1. 3, torn, 
i. p. 910, B. 16 Petrus Alexandrinus, ap. Albaspinaeum, 1. i. Obs. 16, p. 35, col. 1, E. 
17 Sparrc w's Collections, p. 8, 72. 



166 



OF THE LITANY. 



[CHAP. IV, 



the sacrament, the priests with others of the quire should 
kneel in the midst of the church, and sing or say plainly and 
distinctly the Litany which is set forth in English, with all 
the suffrages following . And even long afterwards it was a 
custom in several churches to toll a hell whilst the Litany was 
reading, to give notice to the people that the communion 
service was coming on. 18 And indeed till the last review in 
1661 the Litany was designed to be a distinct service by itself, 
and to be used some time after the morning prayer was over ; 
as may be gathered from the rubric before the commination 
in all the old Common Prayer Books, which orders, that after 
morning prayer, the people being called together by the ring- 
ing of a bell, and assembled in the church, the English Litany 
shall be said after the accustomed manner. This custom, as 
I am informed, is still observed in some cathedrals and cha- 
pels : 19 though now, for the most part, it is made one office 
with the morning prayer ; it being ordered by the rubric 
before the prayer for the king, to be read after the third col- 
lect for grace, instead of the intercessional prayers in the 
daily service. Which order seems to have been formed from 
the rubric before the litany in the Scotch Common Prayer 
Book, which I have transcribed in the margin. 20 And ac- 
cordingly we find that, as the aforementioned rubric before 
the commination office is now altered, both the morning 
prayer and Litany are there supposed to be read at one and 
the same time. 

one out of every §• 6 - By the fifteenth canon above mentioned, 
family to attend whenever the Litany is read, every householder 
the Litany. dwelling within half a mile of the church, is to 
come or send one at the least of his household fit to join with 
the minister in prayers. 

§. 7. The posture, which the minister is to 
The kneei! er t0 use m savm g tne Litany, is not prescribed in 
any present rubric, except that, as it is now a 
part of the morning service for the days above mentioned, it is 
included in the rubric at the end of the suffrages after the 
second Lord's prayer, which orders all to kneel in that place, 
after which there is no direction for standing. And the In- 

18 Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, cap. 10, sect. 3, p. 59. 19 As at Worcester Cathedral 
and Merton College in Oxford, where morning prayer is read at six or seven, and the 
Litany at ten. 20 Here followeth the Litany to he used after the third collect at 
morning prayer, called the collect for grace, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
and at other times, when it shall he commanded hy the Ordinary, and without the 
omission of any part of the other daily service of the Church on those days. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



OF THE LIT AX Y. 



167 



junctions of king Edward and queen Elizabeth both appoint, 
that the priests, with others of the clwir, shall kneel in the 
midst of the church, and sing or say plai?zly and distinctly 
the Litany, which is set forth in English, with all the suf- 
frages following, to the intent the people may hear and an- 
swer, kc. 21 As to the posture of the people, nothing need to 
be said in relation to that, because whenever the priest kneels, 
they are always to do the same. 

§. 8. The sniffing of this office by laymen, as 

, • j • ° ? Mii j ii • The irregularity 

practised m several cathedrals and colleges, is f singing the 
certainly very unjustifiable, and deservedly gives Litany by lay- 
offence to all such as are zealous for regularity 
and decency in divine worship. And therefore (since it is 
plainly a practice against the express rules of our Church, 
crept in partly through the indevout laziness of minor canons 
and others, whose duty it is to perform that solemn office ; 
and partly through the shameful negligence of those who can 
and ought to correct whatever they see amiss in such matters) 
it cannot surely be thought impertinent, if I take hold of this 
opportunity to express my concern at so irreligious a custom. 
And to shew that I am not singular in my complaint, I shall 
here transcribe the words of the learned Dr. Bennet, who 
hath some time since, upon a like occasion, very severely, but 
with a great deal of decency, inveighed against this practice ; 
though I cannot learn that he has yet been so fortunate as to 
obtain much reformation. 

"I think myself obliged (saith he 22 ) to take notice of a 

• most scandalous practice, which prevails in many such con- 
gregations, as ought to be fit precedents for the whole kingdom 
to follow. It is this ; that laymen, and very often young boys 
of eighteen or nineteen years of age, are not only permitted, 
but obliged to perform this office, which is one of the most 
solemn parts of divine service, even though many priests and 
deacons are at the same time present. 

j " Those persons upon whom it must be charged, and in 
whose power it is to rectify it, cannot but know that this 
practice is illegal, as well as abominable in itself, and a flat 
contradiction to all primitive order. And one would think, 
when the nation swarms with such as ridicule, oppose, and 
deny the distinction of clergy and laity ; those who possess 

21 See Bishop Sparrow, as in page 165, note 17 . 22 Upon the Common Prayer, 

J>a£re94. 



168 



OF THE LITANY. 



[chap. IV. 



some of the largest and most honourable preferments in the 
Church, should be ashamed to betray her into the hands of 
her professed enemies, and to put arguments into their mouths, 
and declare by their actions that they think any layman what- 
soever as truly authorized to minister in holy things as those 
who are regularly ordained. Besides, with what face can 
those persons blame the dissenting teachers for officiating 
without episcopal ordination, when they themselves do not 
only allow of but require the same thing? " 

Sect. I. — Of the Invocation. 

We have a divine command to call upon God 
eim oca ion. for mercy in the time of trouble; 23 and all the 
litanies I have seen begin with this solemn word, Kvpi£ kXeriaov, 
Lord have mercy upon us. So that this invocation is the sum 
of the whole Litany, being a particular address for mercy, first 
to each person in the glorious Trinity, and then to them all 
together. The address being urged by two motives, viz. first, 
because we are miserable; and secondly, because we are 
sinners: upon both which accounts we extremely need mercy, 
wnyrepeatedby §• 2 - The desi g n of the people's repeating 
the whole con- these whole verses after the minister is, that 
gregation. every one may first crave to be heard in his own 
words : which when they have obtained, they may leave it to 
the priest to set forth all their needs to Almighty God, pro- 
vided that they declare their assent to every petition as he 
delivers it. 

Sect. II. — Of the Deprecations. 

Having opened the way by the preceding invo- 
The ttons?° a * cation, we now begin to ask : and because deli- 
verance from evil is the first step to felicity, we 
begin with these deprecations for removing it. Both the 
Eastern and Western Church begin their litanies after the same 
manner, 24 theirs as well as ours being a paraphrase upon that 
petition in the Lord's prayer, deliver us from evil. 

§. 2. But because our requests ought to as- 
T ofthem.° d cend kv degrees; before we ask for a perfect 
deliverance, we beg the mercy of forbearance. 
For we confess we have sinned with our fathers , and that 
therefore God may justly punish us, not only for our own 

83 James v. 13. 24 Liturg. S. Chrysos. et S. Basil.— Miss. sec. Us. Sarisb, 



ECT. IT.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



169 



sins, but for theirs also, which we have made our own by 
imitation : for which reason we beg of him not to remember, 
or take vengeance of us for them, especially since he has him- 
self so dearly purchased our pardon with his own most 
precious blood. But however if we cannot obtain to be 
wholly spared, but that he may see it good for us to be a 
little under chastisement ; then we beg his correction may be 
short, and soon removed, and that he would not be angry 
with us for ever. 

And the sum of all that we pray against being deliverance 
from the evils of sin and punishment, we begin the next pe- 
tition with two general words which comprehend both : for 
evil and mischief signify wickedness and misery : and as the 
first is caused by the crafts and assaults of the Devil, so the 
second is brought upon us by the just wrath of God here, and 
completed by everlasting damnation hereafter : and therefore 
we desire to be delivered both from sin and the punishment 
of it ; as well from the causes that lead to it, as the conse- 
quences that follow it. 

After we have thus prayed against sin and misery in general, 
we descend regularly to the particulars, reckoning divers 
kinds of the most notorious sins, some of which have their 
seat in the heart or mind, and others in the body. And first 
we begin against those of the heart, where all sins begin, and 
there recount first the sins concerning ourselves : and, se- 
condly, those concerning our neighbours. Of the former sort 
are blindness of heart, (which we place in the front as the 
cause of all the rest.) and pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy, 
which are united together in this deprecation, as vices which 
generally accompany one another. Of the other sort are 
envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncliaritableness • in which 
words are comprehended all those sins which we do, or can, 
commit against our neighbour in our hearts. 

From the heart sin spreads further into the life and actions, 
and thither our Litany now pursues it, beginning with that 
which St. Paul reckons first among the works of the flesh,- 5 
but which is notwithstanding the boldest and most barefaced 
sin in this lewd age, viz. fornication, which is not to be re- 
strained to the defiling of single persons, but comprehends 
under it all acts of uncleanness whatsoever. But though this 
be a deadly sin, yet it is not the only one, and therefore we 

o Gal. v. 19. 



170 



OF THE LITANY. 



[chap, r 



pray to be delivered from all other deadly sins ; 
D Tt d sf g nifieI hat b y * which we understand not such as are deadly 

by way of distinction, or as they stand in opposi- 
tion to venial sins, (for there are no sins venial in their own 
nature,) but such as are those which David calls presumptu- 
ous, and begs particular preservation from, 26 or those which 
are most heinous and crying above others. For though every 
sin deserves damnation in its own nature, yet we know that 
the infinite goodness of God will not inflict it for every sin. 
But then there are some sins so exceeding great, that they are 
inconsistent even with the gospel-clemency, and immediately 
render a man obnoxious to the wrath of God, and in danger 
of eternal damnation. And these are they which we pray 
against, together with all other sins, which we are apt to fall 
into through the deceits of our three great enemies, which we 
renounced in baptism, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. 

When the cause is removed, there are hopes the conse- 
quences may be prevented : and therefore, after we have pe- 
titioned against all sin, we may regularly pray against all those 
judgments with which God generally scourges those who of- 
fend him; whether they are such as fall upon whole na- 
tions and kingdoms, and either come immediately from the 
hand of God, as lightning and tempest, plague, pestilence, 
and famine : or else are inflicted by the hands of wicked 
men, as his instruments, as battle and murder : or whether 
they are such as fall upon particular persons only, as sudden 
Why we pray death; such as happens sometimes by violence, 
against sudden as by stabbing, burning, drowning, or the like : 

or else on a sudden, and m a moment s time, 
without any warning or apparent cause. And though both 
these kinds of death may sometimes happen to very good 
men, yet if we consider that by such means we may leave our 
relations without comfort, and our affairs unsettled ; and may 
ourselves be deprived of the preparative ordinances for 
death, and have no time to fit our souls for our great ac- 
count ; prudence as well as humility will teach us to pray 
against them. 

Having thus deprecated those evils which might endanger 
our lives, we proceed next to pray against such as would de- 
prive us of our peace and truth: as well those which are 
levelled at the state, as is all sedition, privy conspiracy, and 

26 Psalm xix. 13. 



BECT. IT.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



171 



rebellion ™ as those which portend the ruin of the Church, as 
all false doctrine, heresy, and schism. 21 And then we con- 
clude with the last and worst of God's judgments, which he 
generally inflicts upon those whom neither private nor public 
calamities will reform, viz. hardness of heart, and contempt 
of his word and commandment: for when people amend not 
upon those punishments which are inflicted upon their estates 
and persons, upon the Church and State ; then the patience of 
God* is tired out, and he withdraws his grace, and gives them 
up to a reprobate sense, the usual prologue to destruction and 
damnation, from which deplorable state, good Lord deliver us. 

And now to be delivered from all these great and grievous 
evils, is a mercy so very desirable, that it ought to be begged 
by the most importunate kind of supplication imaginable ; and 
such are the two next petitions, which the Latins call Obse- 
crations, in which the Church beseeches our dear Redeemer 
to deliver us from all the evils we have been praying against, 
by the mystery of his holy incarnation, &c, i. e. she lays be- 
fore our Lord all his former mercies to us expressed in his 
incarnation, nativity, circumcision, baptism, and in every 
thing else which he has done and suffered for us ; and offers 
these considerations to move him to grant our requests, and 
to deliver us from those evils. 

And though we are always either under or near some evil, 
for which reason it is never unseasonable to pray for deliver- 
ance; yet there are some particular times when we stand in 
more especial need of the divine help : and they are either 
during our lives, or at our deaths. During our lives we par- 
ticularly want the divine assistance, first in all times of tribu- 
lation, when we are usually tempted to murmuring, impatience, 
sadness, despair, and the like ; and these we pray against now, 
before the evil day comes : not that God would deliver us 
from all such times, which would be an unlawful request ; but 
that he would support us under them whenever he shall 
please to inflict them. The other part of our lives which we 
pray to be delivered in, is all time of our wealth, i. e. of our 
welfare and prosperity, which are rather more dangerous than 
our time of adversity : all kinds of prosperity, especially plenty 

27 Rebellion, schism.] Both these words were added in the review after the restora- 
tion of king Charles II., to deprecate for the future the like subversion of Church and 
State to what they had then so lately felt. After privy conspiracy in both Common 
Prayer Books of king Edward VI. followed, from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome 
and all his detestable enormities : hut this has ever since been omitted. 



172 



OF THE LITANY 



[chap, n 



and abundance, being exceedingly apt to increase our pride, 
to inflame our lusts, to multiply our sins, and in a word, to 
make us forget God, and grow careless of our souls. And 
therefore we had need to pray that in all such times God would 
be pleased to deliver us. But whether we spend our days in 
prosperity or adversity, they must all end in death, in the 
hour of which the Devil is always most active, and we least 
able to resist him. Our pains are grievous, and our fears 
many, and the danger great of falling into impatience, de- 
spair, or security : and therefore we constantly pray for de- 
liverance in that important hour, which if God grant us, we 
have but one request more, and that is, that he would also 
deliver us in the day of judgment which is the last time a 
man is capable of deliverance, since if we be not delivered 
then, we are left to perish eternally. How fervently there- 
fore ought we to pray for ourselves all our life long, as St. 
Paul prayed for Onesiphorus, 28 that the Lord would grant 
unto us that we may find mercy of the Lord in that day / 

Sect. III. — Of the Intercessions. 
If the institution of God be required to make 
Th sions e . rceS " this part of our Litany necessary, we have his 
positive command by St. Paul, to make inter- 
cession for all men ; 29 and if the consent of the universal 
Church can add any thing to its esteem, it is evident that this 
kind of prayer is in all the Liturgies in the world, and that 
every one of the petitions we are now going to discourse of are 
taken from the best and oldest litanies extant. All therefore 
that will be necessary here, is to shew the admirable method 
and order of these intercessions, which are so exact, curious, 
and natural, that every degree of men follow in their due 
place ; and, at the same time, so comprehensive, that we can 
think of no sorts of persons but who are enumerated, and for 
whom all those things are asked which all and every of them 
stand in need of. 

§. 2. But because it may seem presumptuous for 

order of them. 

us to pray for others, who are unworthy to pray 
for ourselves, before we begin, we acknowledge 
that we are sinners : but yet, if we are penitent, we know our 
prayers will be acceptable : and therefore in humble confi- 
dence of his mercy, and in obedience to his command, 

28 2 Tim. i. 18. 2'lTim.ii. 1. 



SECT. III.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



173 



We sinners do beseech him to hear us in these our interces- 
sions, which we offer up, first, for the holy Church universal, 
the common mother of all Christians, as thinking ourselves 
more concerned for the good of the whole, than of any par- 
ticular part. After this, we pray for our own Church, to 
which, next the catholic Church, we owe the greatest observ- 
ance and duty; and therein, in the first place, for the princi- 
pal members of it, in whose welfare the peace of the Church 
chiefly consists : such as is the lung, whom, because he is the 
supreme governor of the Church in his dominions, and so the 
greatest security upon earth to the true religion, we pray for 
in the three next petitions, that he may be orthodox, pious, and 
prosperous. 30 And though at present we may be happy under 
him ; yet because his crown doth not render him immortal, 
and the security of the government ordinarily depends upon 
the royal family, we pray in the next place for them, (and 
particularly for the heir apparent,) that they may be supplied 
with all spiritual blessings, and preserved from all plots and 
dangers. 31 

The Jews and Gentiles always reckoned their chief priests 
to be next in dignity to the king ; 32 and all ancient Liturgies 
pray for the clergy immediately after the royal family, as be- 
ing the most considerable members of the Christian Church, 
distinguished here into those three apostolical orders of bi- 
shops, priests, and deacons ; though in all former Common 
Prayer Books they were called the bishops, pastors, and min- 
isters of the Church, except in the Scotch Liturgy, which for 
pastors had presbyters. 

Next to these follow those who are eminent in the state, viz. 
the lords of tlie council and all the nobility, who by reason of 
their dignity and trust have need of our particular prayers, and 
were always prayed for in the old Liturgies, by the title of 
the whole palace. 

After we have prayed for all the nobility in general, we pray 
for such of the nobility and gentry as are magistrates, or more 
inferior governors of the people, according to the example of 
the primitive Christians, and in obedience to the positive com- 
mand of St. Paul, who enjoins us to pray for all that are in 
authority?* 

30 In king Ed-ward's Liturgies the first petition for the king vras only this : That it 
may please thee to keep Edward the Sixth, thy servant, our ki?ig ancUgovernor. 

31 This petition was not added till king James the First's time, for a reason giren in 
(he section upon the prayer for the royal family in the daily service. 

32 Alex, ab Alex. 1. 2, c. 8. 33 1 Tim. ii. 2. 



174 



OF THE LITANY. 



[CHAP. IV. 



After these we pray for all the people, i. e. all the commons 
of the land, who are the most numerous, though the least 
eminent ; and unless they be safe and happy, the governors 
themselves cannot be prosperous, the diseases of the members 
being a trouble to the head also. 

And though we may be allowed to pray for our own nation 
first, yet our prayers must extend to all mankind ; and there- 
fore in the next place we pray for the whole world, in the 
very words of ancient Liturgies, viz. that all nations may have 
unity at home among themselves, peace with one another, and 
concord, i. e. amity, commerce, and leagues. 

Having thus prayed for temporal blessings both for ourselves 
and others, it is time now to look inward, and to consider what 
is wanting for our souls ; and therefore we now proceed to 
pray for spiritual blessings, such as virtue and goodness. And, 
first, we pray that the principles of it may be planted in our 
hearts, viz. the love and dread of God, and then that the prac- 
tice of it may be seen in our lives, by our diligent living after 
his commandments. 

But though we receive grace, yet if we do not improve it, 
we shall be in danger of losing it again ; and therefore having 
in the fomer petition desired that we might become good, we 
subjoin this that we may grow better : begging increase of 
grace, and also that we may use proper means thereunto, such 
as is the meekly hearing God's word, &c. 

From praying for the sanctification and improvement of 
those within the Church, we become solicitous for the conver- 
sion of those that are without it ; being desirous that all should 
be brought into the way of truth who have erred or are de- 
ceived. 

But though those without the Church are the most miser- 
able, yet those within are not yet so happy as not to need our 
prayers ; some of them standing in need of strength, and 
others of comfort : these blessings therefore we now ask for 
those that want them. 

Having thus considered the souls of men, we go on next to 
such things as concern their bodies, and to pray for all the 
afflicted in general ; begging of God to succour all that are in 
danger, by preventing the mischief that is falling upon them ; 
to help those that are in necessity, by giving them those bless- 
ings they want ; and to comfort all that are in tribulation, by 
supporting them under it, and delivering them out of it. 

And because the circumstances of some of these hinder them 



SECT. III.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



175 



from being present to pray for themselves ; we particularly 
remember them, since they more especially stand in need of 
our prayers, such as are all that travel by land or by water, 
and the rest mentioned in that petition. 

There are other afflicted persons who are unable to help 
themselves, such as are fatherless children and widows, who 
are too often destitute of earthly friends ; and such as are de- 
solate of maintenance and lodging ; or are oppressed by the 
false and cruel dealings of wicked and powerful men; and 
therefore these also we particularly recommend to God, and 
beg of him to defend and provide for them. 

And after this large catalogue of sufferers as well in spi- 
ritual as temporal things ; lest any should be passed who are 
already under or in danger of any affliction, we pray next that 
God would have mercy upon all men. 

And then, to shew we have no reserve or exception in our 
charity or devotions, we pray particularly for our enemies, 
persecutors, and slanderers ; who we desire may be partakers 
of all the blessings we have been praying for, and that God 
would moreover forgive them, and turn their hearts. 

After we have thus prayed, first for ourselves and then for 
others, we proceed to pray for them and ourselves together : 
begging, first, whatsoever is necessary for the sustenance of 
our bodies, comprehended here under the fruits of the earth. 

And then, in the next petition, asking for all things neces- 
sary to our souls, in order to bring them to eternal happiness, 
viz. true repentance, forgiveness of all our sins, &c, and 
amendment of life. Which last petition is very proper for a 
conclusion. For we know that if we do not amend our lives, 
all these intercessions will signify nothing, because God will 
not hear impenitent sinners. We therefore earnestly beg re- 
pentance and amendment of life, that so all our preceding re- 
quests may not miscarry. 

And now having presented so many excellent supplications 
to the throne of grace ; if we should conclude them here, and 
leave them abruptly, it would look as if we were not much 
concerned whether they were received or not : and therefore 
the Church has appointed us to pursue them still with vigorous 
importunities, and redoubled entreaties. And for this reason 
we now call upon our Saviour, whom we have all this while 
been praying to, and beseech him by his divinity, as he is the 
Son of God, and consequently abundantly able to help us in 



176 



OF THE LITANY. 



[CHAP. IV 



all these things, that he would hear us : and then afterwards 
invocate him by his humanity, beseeching him by his suffer- 
ings for us, when he became the Lamb of God, and was sacri- 
ficed to take away the sins of the world, that he would grant 
us an interest in that peace, which he then made with God, 
and the peace of conscience following thereupon ; and that he 
would have mercy upon us, and take away our sins, so as to 
deliver us from guilt and punishment. And lastly, we beg of 
him, as he is the Lord Christ, our anointed Mediator, to hear us, 
and favour us with a gracious answer to all these intercessions. 

Finally, that our conclusion may be suitable to our begin- 
ning, we close up all with an address to the whole Trinity, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for that mercy which we have 
been begging in so many particulars : this one word compre- 
hends them all, and therefore these three sentences are the 
epitome of the whole Litany ; and considering how often and 
how many ways we need mercy, we can never ask it too often. 
But of these see more in the former chapter, sect. xvi. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Supplications. 

The original of Tsm following part of this Litany we call the 
the suppiica- supplications , which were first collected, and put 
into this form, when the barbarous nations first 
began to overrun the empire, about six hundred years after 
Christ : but considering the troubles of the Church militant, 
and the many enemies it always hath in this world, this part 
of the Litany is no less suitable than the former at all times 
whatsoever. 

§. 2. We begin with the Lord's prayer, of 
T prayer. ds which we have spoke before, 34 and need only ob- 
serve here, that the ancients annexed it to every 
office, to shew both their esteem of that, and their mean 
opinion of their own composures, which receive life and value 
from this divine form. 

§. 3. After this, we proceed to bear deliver- 

Pr. O Lord, ° r . , i r i , , ° 

deal not, &c. ance from our troubles : but because our con- 
sciences presently suggest, that our iniquities 

deserve much greater, and that therefore we cannot expect to 
be delivered, since we suffer so justly ; we are 

"iJard^us^&c. 16 " P ut m mind that God doth not deal ivith us after 
our sins, nor reward us according to our inu 

34 Chap. iii. sect. vi. page 123. 



OF THE LITANY. 



177 



And therefore we turn these very words into sup- 
md thereby clear his justice in punishing us, but 
3 mercy to proportion his chastisements according 
ty of bearing, and not according to the desert of 

our offences. 

way being thus prepared, the priest The prayer 
to pray for the people alone : but lest against persecu- 
houl think their duty at an end, as soon tlon ' 

ises are over, he enjoins them to accompany him in 
still by that ancient form Let us pray : 36 and 
s to the prayer against persecution, which is col- 
out of the Scripture, and partly out of the primi- 
d is still to be found entire among the offices of 
Church, with the title, For tribulation of heart*' 
ncluded with Amen, to shew that ^ n ,. Lord 
request is continued in another form : arise, &c. for thy 
Driest begged before alone, all the name ' s sake ' 
« ask in the following alternate supplications 
Psalms. 38 When our enemies are rising against 
s, we desire that God will arise and help us, 
thiness in ourselves, but for his name's sake, 
make his power to be known* 9 
:he people are praying thus earn- 
to quicken their faith by another ^ve\Sscd, &c. 
di i0 commemorates the great trou- 

bl , and persecutions, which God hath delivered 

hi i in all ages : and since he is the same Lord, 

an i ?ame occasion, this is laid down as the ground 

of our future hope. 

] 3 underfill relations which we have heard with our 
ears, and our fathers have declared unto us, of God's res- 
cuing this particular Church at first from popery, and of his 
delivering and preserving it ever since from faction and su- 
perstition, from so many secret seditions and open rebellions, 
fully assure us that his arm is not shortened. 

And therefore the people again say, O Lord, Ang Lord 
arise, help us, and deliver its for thine honour ; arise, &c. for 
which is no vain repetition, but a testimony that thine honour - 

35 Psalm ciii. 10. 35 Let us pray.] In ancient Liturgies these words often served 
as a mark of transition from one sort of prayer to another, viz. from what the Latins 
call preces, to what they term orationes : the preces were those alternate petitions which 
passed conjointly between the priest and people ; the orationes were those that were 
laid by the priest alone, the people only answering Amen. 37 Miss. Sarisb. 

3* Psalm xliv. 26, and lxxix. 9. 39 Psalm cvi. 8. *° Psalm xliv. 1. 



178 OF THE LITANY. [chap. 

they are convinced they did wisely to ask of this God ( 
hath done so great things for his people in all ages) no^ 
arise and lielp ; that so the honour he hath gotten b . 
wonders of his mercy may be renewed and confirmed b 
new act of his power and goodness. 

§. 6. To this is added the Doxologyin 

G1 fiS, &c. he tion of David, who would often, in the very 
of his complaints, out of a firm persuasir 
God would hear him, suddenly break out into an act off 
And thus we, having the same God to pray to, in the i i 
our mournful supplications, do not only look back on 
blessings with joy and comfort, but forward also on t 
cies we now pray for : and though we have not yet d 
them, yet we praise him for them beforehand, and d' tbt not, 
but that, as he was glorified in the beginning for past ;s, 
so he ought to be now for the present, and shall be ;er 
for future blessings. 

§. 7. But though the faithful do firmly \ ve, 

T re S f pon°sTs ng that thev sha11 be delivered at the last, and c o at 
present rejoice in hopes thereof; yet 1 it is 

probable their afflictions may be continued for a wh trial 
of their patience, and the exercise of their other ; for 

that reason we continue to pray for support in th time, 
and beg of Christ to defend us from our enemies, and to look 
graciously upon our afflictions ; pitifully to behold the sor- 
rows of our hearts, and mercifully to forgive our sins, which 
are the cause of them. 

And this we know he will do, if our prayers be accepted ; 
and therefore we beg of him favourably with mercy to hear 
them, and do beseech him, as he assumed our nature, and 
became the Son of David, (whereby he took on him our in- 
firmities, and became acquainted with our griefs,) to have 
mercy upon us. 

And because the hearing of our prayers in the time of dis- 
tress is so desirable a mercy, that we cannot ask it too fer- 
vently nor too often ; we therefore redouble our cries, and 
beg of him as he is Christ, our anointed Lord and Saviour, 
that he would vouchsafe to hear us now, and whenever we 
cry to him for relief in our troubles. And, to shew we rely 
on no other helper, we conclude these supplications with Da- 
vid's words in a like case, 42 O Lord, let thy mercy be shewed 

41 Psalm vi. 8. and xxii. 22, 8rc. 42 Psalm xxxiii. 21. 



SECT. V.] 



OF THE LITANY. 



179 



upon us, as we do put our trust in thee. To him, and to him 
only, we have applied ourselves ; and as we have no other 
hope but in him, so we may expect that this hope shall be ful- 
filled, and that we shall certainly be delivered in his due time. 

§. 8. The whole congregation having thus ad- The prayer for 
dressed the Son ; the priest now calls upon us to sanctifying our 
make our application to the Father (who knows troubles - 
as well what we suffer as what we can bear) in a most fervent 
form of address, composed at first by St. Gregory above one 
thousand one hundred years ago, 43 but afterwards corrupted 
by the Romish Church, by the addition of the intercession of 
saints, 41 which our reformers have left out, not only restoring, 
but improving the form. 

Sect. V. — Of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and 
2 Cor. xiii. 14. 
The Litany, as I have already observed, was ^ ^ ^ ^ 
formerly a distinct service by itself, and was used saint P chryso°- 
generally after morning prayer was over; and tom,iuid2Cor, 
then these two final prayers belonged particu- 
larly to this service. But it being now used almost every 
where with the morning prayer, these latter collects being 
omitted there (after some occasional prayers, which shall be 
spoken of next) come in here ; and how fit they are for this 
place may be seen by what is said of them already. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV. 

OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS. 

Sect. I. — Of the six first Occasional Prayers. 

The usual calamities which afflict the world 
are so exactly enumerated in the preceding Li- Sfonai PraySs" 
tany, and the common necessities of mankind so 
orderly set down there ; that there seems to be no need of 
any additional prayers to complete so perfect an office. But 
yet because the variety of the particulars allows them but a 
bare mention in that comprehensive form ; the Church hath 
thought good to enlarge our petitions in some instances, be- 

4:1 Sacram. S. Greg. torn. ii. col. 1535, B. «* Miss. Sarisb. 

N 2 



180 



OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS [app. to chap. iv. 



cause there are some evils so universal and grievous, that it is 
necessary they should be deprecated with a peculiar impor- 
tunity ; and some mercies so exceeding needful at some times, 
that it is not satisfactory enough to include our desires of them 
among our general requests ; but very requisite that we should 
more solemnly petition for them in forms proper to the seve- 
ral occasions. Thus it seems to have been among the Jews : 
for that famous prayer which Solomon made at the dedication 
of the temple, 45 supposes that special prayers would be made 
there in times of war, drought, pestilence, and famine. And 
the light of nature taught the Gentiles, on such extraordinary 
occasions, to make extraordinary addresses to their gods. 40 
Nor are Christians to be thought less mindful of their own 
necessities. The Greek Church hath full and proper offices 
for times of drought and famine, of ivar and tumults, of pes- 
tilence and mortality, and upon occasion of eai'thqualces also, 
a judgment very frequent there, but more seldom in this part 
of the world. In the Western Missals there is a Collect, and 
an Epistle and Gospel, with some responses upon every one 
of these subjects, seldom indeed agreeing with any of our 
forms, which are the shortest of all ; being not designed for a 
complete office, but appointed to be joined to the Litany, or 
Morning and Evening Prayer, every day while the occasion 
requires it ; that so, according to the laws of Charles the 
Great, "in times of famine, plague, and war, the mercy of 
God may be immediately implored, without staying for the 
king's edict." 47 

§. 2. The two first of these prayers, viz. those 

When first added, e? • j o _c • .7 1 j n .1 

101 ram and for fair weather, are placed alter the 
six collects at the end of the communion office, in the first book 
of king Edward VI. The other four were added afterwards 
to his second book, in which they were all six placed, as now, 
at the end of the Litany. But in the old Common Prayer 
Book of queen Elizabeth and king James I., the second of the 
prayers in the time of dearth and famine was omitted, and 
not inserted again till the restoration of king Charles II. 

Sect. II. — Of the Prayers in the Ember- Weeks. 

The Prayers in ^ HE ordination of ministers is a matter of so 
the Ember- great concern to all degrees of men, that it has 
weeks. eyer ^ een done with great solemnity : and by 

« 1 Kings viii. 33, 35, 37. «6 Lactant. Inst. 1. 2, c. 1, p. 115. « Capitular, lib. 1 , c. 118. 



SECT. III.] 



AND THANKSGIVINGS. 



181 



the thirty-first canon of the Church it is appointed, That no 
deacons and ministers be made and ordained, but only upon 
the Sundays immediately ^//owm^jejuniaquatuor temporum, 
commonly called Ember- Weeks. And since the whole nation . 
is obliged, at these times, to extraordinary prayer and fasting ; 
the Church hath provided two forms upon the occasion, of 
which the first is most proper to be used before the candidates 
have passed their examination, and the other afterwards. 
They were both added to our Common Prayer 
Book at the last review ; though the second oc- ien a e 
curs in the Scotch Liturgy, just before the prayer of St. Chry- 
sostom, at the end of the Litany. 

As to the original, antiquity, and reason of these four em- 
ber-fasts, and the fixing the ordination of ministers at those 
.times, I shall take occasion to speak hereafter ; and shall only 
observe further in this place, that it is a mistake in those who 
imagine that these prayers are only to be used upon the three 
ember-days, i. e. upon the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 
in every ember-week ; the rubric expressing as plain as words 
can do, that one of them is to be said everyday in the ember- 
weeks, i. e. beginning (as it is expressed in the Scotch Litur- 
gy) on the Sunday before the day of ordination. 

Sect. III. — Of the Prayer that may be said after any of the former. 

This prayer was first added in queen Eliza- Wbenfirstadded 
beth's Common Prayer Book, and not by order en rs a e • 
of king James L, as Dr. Nichols affirms. When it was first 
inserted, it was placed just after the prayer in the time of any 
common plague or sickness, (that being then the last of the 
prayers upon particular occasions,) but at the review after the 
Restoration, the two prayers for the ember-weeks were inserted 
just after that, and the collect we are speaking of ordered to 
be placed immediately after those prayers. The printers indeed 
set it in the place where it now usually stands, viz. between 
the prayers for all conditions of men and^e general thanks- 
giving but the commissioners obliged them to strike it out, 
and print a new leaf, wherein it should stand just before the 
prayer for the parliament. But notwithstanding 
this, in all the following impressions, this order irnhe g edUion S m 
was again neglected, and the prayer that we are of the common 
speaking of has, in all editions ever since, been rayer * 
continued in the same place, viz. just after the prayer for all 



182 



OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS [app. to chap. it. 



conditions of men. But as no edition of the Common Prayer 
is authorized by act of parliament, but such as is exactly con- 
formable to the Sealed Books ; 48 we cannot justify ourselves 
in using it after that prayer, since the Sealed Books assign it 
a quite different place. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Prayer for the High Court of Parliament. 

The prayer for Though the ancient monarchs of this king* 
the high court of dom, Saxons and Normans, coming in by con 
parliament. quest, governed according to their own will at 
first; yet in after times they chose themselves a great coun- 
cil of their bishops and barons, and at last freely condescend- 
ed to let the people choose persons to represent them : so 
that we have now had parliaments for above four hundred 
3 r ears, consisting of bishops and barons to represent the clergy 
and nobility, and of knights and burgesses to represent the 
commons. But these being never summoned but when the 
king or queen desires their advice, de arduis regni negotiis y 
and they having at such times great affairs under their debate, 
and happy opportunities to do both their prince and country 
service ; it is fit they should have the people's prayers for 
their success. And accordingly we find not only that the 
primitive Christians prayed for the Roman senate, 49 but that 
even the Gentiles offered sacrifices in behalf of their public 
councils, which were always held in some sacred place. 50 In 
conformity therefore to so ancient and universal a practice, this 
prayer for our own parliament was added at the last review. 

Sect. V. — Of the Prayer for all Conditions of Men. 

Before the addition of this prayer, which was 
Vn addecL St made but at the last review, the Church had no 
general intercession for all conditions of men, 
except on those days upon which the Litany was appointed. 
For which reason this collect was then drawn up, to supply 
the want of that office upon ordinary days ; and therefore it is 
ordered by the rubric to he used at such times, when the 
Litany is not appointed to be said: consonant to which it is 
Whether to he now > I believe, a universal practice, and a very 
used in the after- reasonable one, I think, to read this prayer every 
lloons - evening, as well as on such mornings as the Li- 

43 To understand what is meant hy the Sealed Books, see a clause toward the end of 
the Act of Uniformity. 49 Tertull. Apologet. 50 Al. ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 4, c. 
11. Aul. Gell.l. 14, c. 7. 



SLCT. VI.] 



AND THANKSGIVINGS. 



183 



fcany is not said : though Dr. Bisse informs us, 51 that " bishop 
Gunning, the supposed author of it, in the college whereof he 
was head, suffered it not to be read in the afternoon, because 
the Litany was never read then, the place of which it was sup- 
posed to supply." I know this form has been generally 
ascribed to bishop Sanderson : but the above-mentioned gen- 
tleman assures me, that it is a tradition at St. John's in 
Cambridge, that bishop Gunning, who was for some time 
master there, was the author, and that in his time it was the 
practice of the college not to read it in the afternoon. And 
I have heard elsewhere, that it was originally drawn up much 
longer than it is now, and that the throwing out a great part 
of it, which consisted of petitions for the king, the royal 
family, clergy, &c, who are prayed for in the other collects, 
was the occasion why the word finally comes in so soon in 
so short a prayer. It is not improbable, that the bishop 
might have designed to comprehend all the intercessional col- 
lects in one : but that the others who were commissioned for 
the same affair, might think it better to retain the old forms, 
and so only to take as much of bishop Gunning's as was not 
comprehended in the rest. 

§. 2. There being a particular clause pro- 
vided in this prayer, to be said when any desire the visitation 
the prayers of the congregation, it is needless as Adhere tobe 
well as irregular to use any collects out of the 
Visitation Office upon these occasions ; as some are accustom- 
ed to do, without observing the impropriety they are guilty of 
in using those forms in the public congregations, which are 
drawn up to be used in private, and run in terms that suppose 
the sick person to be present. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Thanksgivings. 

Praise is one of the most essential parts of 
God's worship, by which not only all the Christian ofthSsgivS?. 
world, but the Jews and Gentiles also paid their 
homage to the Divine Majesty ; as might be shewed by innu- 
merable testimonies : and indeed considering how many 
blessings we daily receive from God, and that he expects no- 
thing else from us in return but the easy tribute of love and 
gratitude, (a duty that no one can want leisure or ability to 
perform,) it is certain no excuse can be made for the omission 

51 Beauty of Holiness in the Common Prayer, p. 97, in the notes. 



184 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



of it. It is pleasant in the performance, 52 and profitable in 
the event ; for it engages our great Benefactor to continue 
the mercies we have, and as well inclines him to give, as fits 
us to receive more. 53 

These forms of §• ^' Therefore for the performance of this 
thanksgiving, duty the reverend compilers of our Liturgy had 
when added. appointed the Hallelujah, the Gloria Patri, and 
the daily psalms and hymns. But because some thought that 
we did not praise God so particularly as we ought to have 
done upon extraordinary occasions, some particular thanks- 
givings upon deliverance from drought, rain, famine, war, 
tumults, and pestilence, were added in the time of king James 
I. And to give more satisfaction still, by removing all shadows 
of defect from our Liturgy, there was one general thanks- 
giving added to the last review for daily use, drawn up (as it 
is said) by bishop Sanderson, and so admirably composed, 
that it is fit to be said by all men who would give God thanks 
for common blessings, and yet peculiarly provided with a proper 
clause for those who, having received some eminent personal 
mercy, desire to offer up their public praise : a duty which 
none, that have had the prayers of the Church, should ever 
omit after their recovery, lest they incur the reprehension 
given by our Saviour to the ungrateful lepers recorded in the 
Gospel, Were there not ten cleansed? hut where are the nine ? i5 



CHAPTER V. 
OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, 

AND THEIR SEVERAL 

COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

THE Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used {at the 
celebration of the Lord's Supper, and Holy Communion, 
as it was said in all the old Common Prayer Books) through- 
out the year, standing next in order in the Common Prayer 
Book, come now to be treated of : but because they are sel- 
dom used but upon Sundays and Holy-days, it is necessary 

52 Psalm cxlvii. 1. 53 Psalm lxvii. 5, G, 7. " Luke xvii. 17. 



introd.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



185 



something should be premised concerning the reasons and 
original of the more solemn observation of those days in ge- 
neral. And first, 

I. — Of Sundays in general. 

One day in seven seems from the very beginning n „ , . co 
to have been sanctified by God, 1 and commanded ven, why kept 
to be set apart for the exercise of religious duties. lloly- 
All the mysteries of it perhaps are beyond our comprehension : 
but to be sure one design of it was that men, by thus sancti- 
fying the seventh day, after they had spent six in labour, 
might shew themselves to be worshippers of that God only, 
who rested the seventh day, after he had finished the heavens 
and the earth in six. 

S. 2. The reasons why the Jews were com- g a t ur( j a y W hy 
manded to observe the Seventh-day, or Satur- the Jewish sab- 
day, in particular for their Sabbath, were pecu- bath< 
liar and proper to themselves : it was on this day God had 
delivered them from their Egyptian bondage, and over- 
whelmed Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea : so that no 
day could be more properly set apart to celebrate the mercies 
and goodness of God, than that, on which he himself chose to 
confer upon them the greatest blessing they enjoyed. 

§. 3. But the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt Sunday) why 
by the ministry of Moses, was only intended for observed by the 
a type and pledge of a spiritual deliverance which Christians - 
was to come by Christ : their Canaan also was no more than 
a type of that heavenly Canaan, which the redeemed by Christ 
do look for. Since therefore the shadow is made void by the 
coming of the substance, the relation is changed ; and God is 
no more to be worshipped and believed in, as a God foreshew- 
ing and assuring by types, but as a God who hath performed 
the substance of what he promised. The Christians indeed, 
as well as the Jews, are to observe the moral equity of the 
fourth commandment, and, after six days spent in their own 
works, are to sanctify the seventh : but in the designation of 
the particular day, they may and ought to differ. Eor if the 
Jews were to sanctify the seventh day, only because they had 
on that day a temporal deliverance as a pledge of a spiritual 
one ; the Christians surely have much greater reasons to sanc- 
tify the first, since on that very day God redeemed us from 

1 Genesis ii. 3. 



186 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chat. v. 



this spiritual thraldom, by raising Jesus Christ our Lord from 
the dead, and begetting us, instead of an earthly Canaan, to 
an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens. And accord- 
ingly we have the concurrent testimonies both of Scripture 2 
and antiquity, 3 that the first day of the week, or Sunday, 
hath ever been the stated and solemn time of the Christians 
meeting for their public worship and service. 

§. 4. In the East indeed, where the Gospel 
and U ho\r obSrv- chiefly prevailed among the Jews, who retained 
ed by the Eastern a great reverence for the Mosaic rites, the Church 
thought fit to indulge the humour of the Judaiz- 
ing Christians so far as to observe the Saturday as a festival 
day of devotions, and thereon to meet for the exercise of re- 
ligious duties: as is plain from several passages of the ancients." 
But however, to prevent giving any offence to others, they 
openly declared, that they observed it in a Christian way, and 
not as a Jewish Sabbath. 5 And this custom was so far from 
being universal, that at the same time all over the West, ex- 
cept at Milan in Italy, 6 Saturday was kept as a fast, 7 (as being 
the day on which our Lord lay dead in the grave,) and is still, 
for the same reason, appointed for one of the fast-days in the 
ember- weeks by the Church of England ; which, in imitation 
both of the Eastern and Western Churches, always reserves 
to the Sunday the more solemn acts of public worship and 
devotion. 

II.— Of our Saviour's Holy-days in general. 

our saviour's But Des ^ es tne weekly return of Sunday, 
Hoiy-days in (whereon we celebrate God's goodness and nier- 
generai. c - eg ge{ . f QT fa j n our crea ti n and redemption in 

general,) the Church hath set apart some days yearly for the 
more particular remembrance of some special acts and pas- 
sages of our Lord in the redemption of mankind ; such as are 
his incarnation and nativity, circumcision, manifestation to the 
Gentiles, presentation in tlie temple his fasting, passion, re- 
surrection, and ascension; the sending of the Holy Ghost, and 

2 Acts ii. 1. xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 10. 3 S. Barnab. §. 15; Ignat. ad Mag- 
nes. §. 9, p. 23. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 89, p. 132. Tert. de Coron. Mil. cap. 3, p. 102, 
A, Plin. 1. 10, Epist. 97. Orig. in Exod. xv. Horn. 7, torn. i. p. 49, F. et alibi. 

4 Athanas. Homil. de Sement. torn. ii. p. 60, A. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 8, p. .312, 
D. Concil. Laod. Can. 16, 51, t. i. col. 1500, B. et 1505, B. 5 Athanas. ut supra. 

Concil. Laod. Can. 29, torn. i. col. 1501, C. 6 Paulin. in Vita Ambr. 7 Innocentii 
primi Epist. ad Decent. Eugubin. c. 4. Concil. torn. ii. col. 1246, D. Concil. Elib. 
Can. 26, torn. i. col. 973, D; 



iktrod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



187 



the manifestation of the sacred Trinity. That the observation 
of such days is requisite, is evident from the practice both of 
Jews and Gentiles : nature taught the one, 8 and God the other, 
that the celebration of solemn festivals was a part of the public 
exercise of religion. Besides the feasts of the passover, of 
weeks, and of tabernacles, which were all of divine appoint- 
ment, the Jews celebrated some of their own institution, viz. 
the feast of purim 9 and the dedication of the temple, 10 the lat- 
ter of which even our blessed Saviour himself honoured with 
his presence. 11 

§. 2. But these festivals being instituted in Christians nof t0 
remembrance of some signal mercies granted in observe Jewish 
particular to the Jews ; the Christians, who were feasts ' 
chiefly converted from the heathen world, were no more 
obliged to observe them, than they were concerned in the 
mercies thereon commemorated. And this is the reason that 
when the Judaizing Christians would have imposed upon the 
Galatians the observation of the Jewish festivals, as necessary 
to salvation ; St. Paul looked upon it as a thing so criminal, 
that he w r as afraid the labour he had bestowed upon them to 
set them at liberty in the freedom of the Gospel had been in 
z-ain : 12 not that he thought the observation of festivals was a 
thing in itself unlawful, but because they thought themselves 
still obliged by the law to observe those days and times, 
which, being only shadows of things to come, were made 
void by the coming of the substance. 

§. 3. As to the celebration of Christian festi- 
vals, they thought themselves as much obliged vS^owSriy 
to observe them as the Jews were to observe JjJJJJJJJ 4 "* 
theirs. They had received greater benefits, and mr ° 
therefore it would have been the highest degree of ingratitude 
to have been less zealous in commemorating them. And ac- 
cordingly we find that in the very infancy of Christianity some 
certain days were yearly set apart, to commemorate the re- 
surrection and ascension of Christ, the coming of the Hohj 
Ghost, kc, and to glorify God by an humble and grateful ac- 
knowledgment of these mercies granted to them at those 
times. Which laudable and religious custom so soon prevailed 
over the universal Church, that in five hundred years after 
our Saviour, we meet with them distinguished by the same 



s Plat, de Legibus. lib. 2, torn. ii. p. 653. D. ab Hen. Steph. Paris. ISTS. 9 Esther 
Ix. W 1 Maccab. iv. 59. " John x. 22. Gal. iv. 10, 11. 



188 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP. v. 



names we now call them by; such as Epiphany, Ascension- 
day, Whit- Sunday, &c, and appointed to I3e observed on those 
days on which the Church of England now observes them. 13 

III. — Of Saints-days in general. 

But besides the more solemn festivals, where - 
obsTrvecPby the on they were wont to celebrate the mysteries of 
primitive Chris- their redemption, the primitive Christians had 
their memories martyrum, or certain days set 
apart yearly in commemoration of the great heroes of the 
Christian religion, the blessed Apostles and martyrs, who had 
attested the truth of these mysteries with their blood : at 
whose graves they constantly met once a year, to celebrate 
their virtues, and to bless God for their exemplary lives and 
glorious deaths ; as well to the intent that others might be en- 
couraged to the same patience and fortitude, as also that vir- 
tue, even in this world, might not wholly lose its reward : a 
practice doubtless very ancient, and probably founded upon 
that exhortation to the Hebrews, to remember those who had 
had the rule over them, and who had spoken unto them the 
word of God, and had sealed it with their blood. 14 In which 
place the author of that Epistle is thought chiefly to hint at 
the martyrdom of St. James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, 
who, not long before, had laid down his life for the testimony 
of Jesus. And we find that those who were eyewitnesses of 
the sufferings of St. Ignatius, published the day of his mar- 
tyrdom, that the Church of Antioch might meet together at 
that time to celebrate the memory of such a valiant combatant 
and martyr of Christ. 15 After this we read of the Church of 
Smyrna's giving an account of St. Polycarp's martyrdom, 
(which was A. D. 147, 16 ) and of the place where they had en- 
tombed his bones, and withal professing that they would as- 
semble in that place, and celebrate the birthday of his mar- 
tyrdom with joy and gladness. 17 (Where we may observe, 
by the way, that the days of the martyrs' deaths were called 
their birthdays ; because they looked upon those as the days 
of their nativity, whereon they were freed from the pains and 
sorrows of a troublesome world, and born again to the joys 
and happiness of an endless life.) These solemnities, as we 

is Const. Apost. 1. 5, c. 13.— 1. 8, c. 33. « Heb. xiii. 7. ^ Act. Mart. Ignat, 
§. 7, p. 52. 16 Pearson. Dissertat. Chronologic, part. 2, a cap. 14 ad 20. 17 Ec 
cles. Suiyrn. Epist. de Mart S Polycarp. §. 18, p. 73, et Euseb. Histor. Eccl. 1. 4, c. 15 
p. 135, A. B. 



INTROD.] 



THEIR. COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



189 



learn from Tertullian, 18 were yearly celebrated, and were 
afterwards observed with so much care and strictness, that it 
was thought profaneness to be absent from the Christian as- 
semblies upon those occasions. 19 

IV. — Of the Festivals observed by the Church of England. 
The following ages were as forward as those 
we have already spoken of, in celebrating the the Church of 
festivals of the martyrs and holy men of their England 00- 
time. Insomuch that at the last the observation 
of holy-days became both superstitious and troublesome ; a 
number of dead men's names, not over-eminent in their lives 
either for sense or morals, crowding the calendar, and jostling 
out the festivals of the first saints and martyrs. But at the 
reformation of the Church, all these modern martyrs were 
thrown aside, and no festivals retained in the calendar as days 
of obligation, but such as were dedicated to the honour of 
Christ, ckc, or to the memory of those that were famous in 
the Gospels. Such as were, in the first place, the twelve 
Apostles, who being constant attendants on our Lord, and ad- 
vanced by him to that high order, have each of them a day 
assigned to their memory. St. John the Baptist and St. Ste- 
phen have the same honour done to them ; the first because 
he was Christ's forerunner ; the other upon account of his 
being the first martyr. St. Paul and St. Barnabas* are com- 

w De Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. 1 9 Euseb. de Vit. Const. I. 4, c. 23, p. 536, C 
Basil. Ep. 336, torn. iii. p. 228, E. 

* St. Paul and St. Barnabas were neither of them inserted in the table 
of boly-days prefixed to the calendar, till the Scotch Liturgy was compiled, ft! larnaba.s 
from whence they were taken into our own at the last review ; nor were why not foil 
they reckoned up among the days that were appointed by the act, in the m {* 1 ? ™ \ be 
fifth and sixth year of king Edward VI., 20 to be observed as holy-days; g£ ofho1 ^ 
though it is there expressly enacted, that no other day but what is therein 
mentioned shall be kept, or commanded to be kept, holy. However, the names of each 
of them were inserted in the calendar itself, and proper services were appointed for 
them in all the Common Prayer Books that have been since the Reformation. And 
in the first book of king Edward they are both red-letter holy-days ; though in the 
second book (in which the other holy-days are also printed in red letters) the Conversion 
of St. Paul is put down in black, and St. Barnabas is omitted. But this last seems to 
have been done through the carelessness of the printer, and not through design ; proper 
second Lessons being added in the calendar against the day. The reason of their being 
left but of the table of holy-days, was, because if they fell upon any week day, they 
were not to be observed as days of obligation, or by ceasing from labour, nor to be bid 
in the church. Their proper offices might be used, so they were not used solemnly, nor 
by ringing to the same, after the manner used on high-holy-days. The reason why 
these were not high-holy-days, I suppose, was, because the Conversion of St. Paul did 
always, and St. Barnabas did often, fall in term-time ; during which time and the time 
of harvest, i. e. from the first of July to the twenty-ninth of September, it was ordained 
in convocation by the authority of king Henry VIII. in 1536, that no days should be 
observed as holy-days, except the feasts of the Apostles, of our blessed Lady, and St. 
George, and such feasts as the king's judges did not use to sit in judgment in West- 
minster-hall. 21 The days in the terms in which the judges did not use to sit were the 
« Chap. III. 21 See Sparrow's Collect, p. 167, 16S, and Hejlin's Miscellaneous Tracts, p. K 



190 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



memorated upon account of their extraordinary call : St. 
Mark and St. Luke, for the service they did Christianity by 
their Gospels ; the Holy Innocents, because they are the first 
that suffered upon our Saviour's account, as also for the 
greater solemnity of Christmas, the birth of Christ being the 
occasion of their death. The memory of all other pious per- 
sons is celebrated together upon the festival of All-Saints : and 
that the people may know what benefits Christians receive by 
the ministry of angels, the feast of St. Michael and all Angels 
is for that reason solemnly observed in the Church. 

§. 2. Designing to treat in this chapter of all 
sS?es Sl them" these da y s separately, in the order that they lie 
in the Common Prayer Book, I shall say nothing 
further of them in this place ; but only shall observe in 
general, that they were constantly observed in the Church of 
England, from the time of the Reformation till the late rebel- 
lion, when it could not be expected that any thing that carried 
an air of religion or antiquity could bear up against such an 
irresistible inundation of impiety and confusion. But at the 
Restoration our holy-days were again revived, together with 
our ancient Liturgy, which appoints proper Collects, Epistles, 
and Gospels for each of them ; and orders the curate to 
declare unto the people, on the Sunday before, ichat holy-days 
or fasting-days are in the iveek following to be observed? 1 
And the preface to the Act of Uniformity intimates it to be 
schismatical to refuse to come to church on those days. And 
by the first of Elizabeth, which is declared by the Uniformity- 
Act to be in full force, all persons, having no lawful or rea- 
sonable excuse to be absent, are obliged to resort to their parish- 
church on holy -days, as well as Sundays, and there to abide or- 
derly and soberly during the time of divine service, upon pain or 
'punishment by the censures of the Church, and also upon pain 
of twelve pence for every offence, to be levied by distress. 

§. 3. In relation to the concurrence of two 
°of C hoi C j U -day n s! e holy-days together, we have no directions either 
in the rubric or elsewhere, which must give 
place, or which of the two services must be used. According 

feasts of the Ascension, of St. John Baptist, of All-Saints, and of the Purification. By 
the feasts of the Apostles I suppose the twelve only were meant . and therefore St. 
Paul and St. Barnahas were excluded. But as they are inserted now in the table of 
holy-days, which, with the whole Liturgy, is confirmed by the Act of Uniformity, they 
are both of them days of equal obligation with the rest. 

82 Rubric after the Nicene Creed. 



INTROD.] 



THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



191 



to what I can gather from the rubrics in the Roman Breviary 
and Missal, (which are very intricate and difficult,) it is the 
custom of that Church, when two holy-days come together, 
that the office for one only be read, and that the office for the 
other be transferred to the next day ; excepting that some 
commemoration of the transferred holy-day be made upon the 
first day, by reading the hymns, verses, &c, which belong to 
the holy-day that is transferred. But our Liturgy has made 
no such provision. For this reason some ministers, when a 
holy-day happens upon a Sunday, take no notice of the holy- 
day, (except that sometimes they are forced to use the second 
Lesson for such holy-day, there being a gap in the column of 
second Lessons in the calendar,) but use the service appointed 
for the Sunday ; alleging that the holy-day, which is of human 
institution, should give way to the Sunday, which is allowed to 
be of divine. But this is an argument which I think not 
satisfactory : for though the observation of Sunday be of di- 
vine institution, yet the service we use on it is of human ap- 
pointment. Nor is there any thing in the services appointed, 
to be used on the ordinary Sundays, that is more peculiar to, 
or tends to the greater solemnity of the Sunday, than any of 
the services appointed for the holy-days. What slight there- 
fore do we shew to our Lord's institution, if when we meet on 
the day that he has set apart for the worship of himself, we 
particularly praise him for the eminent virtues that shined 
forth in some saint, whose memory that day happens to bring 
to our mind ? Such praises are so agreeable to the duty of the 
• day, that I cannot but esteem the general practice to be pre- 
ferable, which is, to make the lesser holy-day give way to the 
greater; as an ordinary Sunday, for instance, to a saint's day ; 
a saint's day to one of our Lord's festivals ; and a lesser fes- 
tival of our Lord to a greater : except that some, if the first 
Lesson for the holy-day be out of the Apocrypha, will join 
the first Lesson of the Sunday to the holy-day service : as 
observing that the Church, by always appointing canonical 
Scripture upon Sundays, seems to countenance their use of a 
canonical Lesson even upon a holy-day, that has a proper one 
appointed out of the Apocrypha, if that holy-day shall happen 
upon a Sunday. But what if the Annunciation should happen 
in Passion-week ; or either that or St. Mark upon Easter- 
Monday or Tuesday ? or what if St. Barnabas should fall upon 
Whit-Monday or Tuesday? or what if St. Andrew and Advent- 
Sunday both come together ? In any of these concurrences I 



192 



OP THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. v. 



do not doubt but the service would be differently performed 
in different Churches. And therefore I take this to be a case 
in which the bishops ought to be consulted, they having a 
power vested in them to appease all diversity, (if any arise,) 
and to resolve all doubt concerning the manner how to under- 
stand, do, and execute the things contained in the Book of 
Common Prayer.™ 

V. — Of the Vigils or Eve. 
In the primitive times it was the custom to 
Vig5 ca'iied y S ° P ass g reat P art °f tne night that preceded certain 

holy-days in religious exercises and devotion ; 
and this even in those places which were set apart for the 
public worship of God. And these exercises, from their be- 
ing performed in the night-time, came to be called viyilice, 
vigils or watchings. 

§.2. As to the original of this practice, some 
The thlS nal ° f are inclined to found it upon the several texts of 

Scripture literally understood, where watching is 
enjoined as well as prayer ; particularly upon the conclusion 
our Saviour draws from the parable of the ten virgins : Watch 
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein 
the Son of man co)neth. 2i But others, with greater probabi- 
lity, have imputed the rise of these night-watches to the ne- 
cessity which Christians were under of meeting in the night, 
and before day, for the exercise of their public devotions, by 
reason of the malice and persecution of their enemies, who 
endeavoured the destruction of all that appeared to be Chris- 
tians. 25 And when this first occasion ceased, by the Christians 
having liberty given them to perform their devotions in a more 
public manner, they still continued these night-watches before 
certain festivals, in order to prepare their minds for a due 
observation of the ensuing solemnity. 26 But afterwards, when 
these night-meetings came to be so far abused, that no care 
could prevent several disorders and irregularities, the Church 
thought fit to abolish them : so that the nightly watchings 
were laid aside, and the fasts only retained, but still keeping 
the former name of vigils. 27 

23 See the preface concerning the service of the Church: 21 Matt. xxv. 13. 

25 See John xx. 19. Acts xii. 12, and xx. 7. Tertull. de Coron. c. 3. Plin. Lib. 10. 
Ep. 97. 2 « Tert. ad Uxor. lib. 2. Euseb. de Vit. Const, lib. 4. Hieron. ad Ripar. 
adv. Vigilantium. 27 It seems the vigil upon All-hallows day at night was kept by 
watching, and ringing of bells all night long, till the year 1545, when king Henry VIII. 
wrote to Cranmer to abolish it. Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 203. 



ijjtrod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



193 



§. 3. The festivals that have these vigils as- 
signed to them by the Church of England 28 are, ^v?^? 3 
the Nativity of our Lord, the Purification of the 
blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin, 
Easter-day, Ascension-day, Pentecost, St. Matthias, St. John 
Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, 
St. Simon and St. Jude, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and All- 
Saints. The reason why the other holy-days have 
no vigils before them, is, because they generally m S d h why. n0t ' 
happen either between Christmas and the Purifi- 
cation or between Easter and Whitsuntide ; which were always 
esteemed such seasons of joy, that the Church did not think 
fit to intermingle them with any days of fasting and humilia- 
tion. They that fall between Christmas and the Purification, 
are the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the 
Holy Innocents, the Circumcision, and the Conversion of St. 
Paul. 29 The others that may happen between Easter and 
Whitsuntide, are St. Mark, St. Philip and St. James, and St. 
Barnabas. It is true, indeed, the festival of our Lord's as- 
cension, which is always ten days before Whit-Sunday, has a 
vigil before it : but it may be worth inquiring, whether there 
was any vigil prefixed to it before the institution of the roga- 
tion-fasts, which were appointed upon the three days that 
precede this festival. There are two holy-days not yet named, 
that have no vigils, though they do not happen in either of the 
above-mentioned seasons : the one is in September, viz. the 
feast of St. Michael and All Angels ; the other in October, 
viz. the festival of St. Luke. Upon the first of these, one 
reason for the institution of vigils ceaseth, which was to con- 
form us to the example of the saints we commemorate, and to 
remind us that they passed through sufferings and mortifica- 
tions before they entered into the joy of their Master ; whereas 
those ministering spirits, for whose protection and assistance we 
return God thanks on that day, were at first created in full pos- 
session of bliss. The reason why the latter, viz. St. Luke, has 
no vigil, is because the eve of that saint was formerly itself a 
celebrated holy-day in the Church of England, viz. the feast 
of St. Etheldred : but that reason being now removed, I sup- 

23 See the table of the vigils, &c., before the calendar, which was first inserted at the 
nst review. Though the days before these several festivals were marked for fasts in 
the calendar in all the Common Prayer Books, except king Edward's. 29 The day 
before the Conversion of St. Paul is marked for a fast in the Scotch Liturgy. 

O 



194 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



pose every one is left to his own liberty, as to his private de- 
votions, whether he will observe the eve as a vigil or not. 

§. 3. All Sundays in the year being appointed 
jiiofa bv the Church to be observed as festivals, no 

least upon a J . .. , - ' 

lay to be vigil is allowed to be kept upon any of those 
tKllSrda> n da } ?s : tliere bein g a particular rubric to order, 
that if any of the feast-days that have a vigil 
fall upon a Monday, then the vigil or fast-day shall be 
kept upon the Saturday, not upon the Sunday next before it.™ 
But from hence a query ariseth, viz. on which evening service 
the collect for the festival is to be used : the rubric indeed 
relating to this matter seems to be worded very plain, viz. 
whether the That the collect appointed for every Sunday, or 
collect of a Mon- for any holy-day that hath a vigil or eve, shall 
b^uSduponthe oe sa id at tne evening service next before; 31 
satu^ay_orSun- but then this rubric seems to suppose that the 
ay evening. day before is the vigil or eve; and makes no 
provision in case the festival falls upon the Monday, when we 
are directed by the rubric above cited to keep the vigil or fast 
upon the Saturday. Here then we are left at an uncertainty, 
nor can we get any light by comparing our present Liturgy 
with any former Common Prayer Book, because both these 
rubrics, together with the tables of vigils or eves, were first 
added at the last review. According to Mr. Johnson, indeed, 
who imagines that the collect for the festival is appointed to 
be used upon the evening before, because then the holy-day 
properly begins, we ought to read the collect upon the Sunday 
evening, though the vigil be kept upon the Saturday. For he 
observes, 32 that " the Church of England has divided her 
nights and days according to the scriptural, not the civil ac- 
count : and that though our civil day begins from midnight, 
yet our ecclesiastical day begins at six in the evening. And 
therefore the collect for the Sunday is to be read on what in 
our civil account is called Saturday evening, and the collect 
of every greater festival at evening prayer next before. The 
proper time for vespers or even-song is six of the clock, and 
from that time the religious day begins : therefore where even- 
ing prayer is ready at its proper season, the collect for the 
Purification may well be used as the rubric directs, on what 
they call the foregoing evening, notwithstanding those words, 

30 See the rubric at the bottom of the table of vigils. 31 See the rubric before the 
Collect for the first Sunday in Advent. 3- Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 22, page 210. 



isthod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



195 



Thy only Son was this day presented in the temple." But 
against this supposition lie two objections : the one is, that 
there are very few churches which begin prayers after six in 
the evening, which Mr. Johnson affirms to be the proper time 
for vespers or even-song : though if they did, the same diffi- 
culty would occur what collect we must use at evening prayer 
upon the festival itself, for then, according to Mr. Johnson, 
another day begins. But further, if the day begins at six of 
the clock on the evening before, then the collect of every 
festival ought to be used on the foregoing evening ; whereas 
the rubric only orders, that the collects for Sundays, and such 
holy-days as have vigils and eves, be said at the preceding 
evening service, and consequently supposes that the collects 
of such festivals as have no vigils are only to be used upon the 
festivals themselves. * From whence too we may observe by 
the way, it is a mistake in those who use the collects of all 

* Mr. Johnson has been pleased to reply to this, that "it is so certain that six is the 
hour of even-song, that no man will dispute it who is not a perfect stranger to things 
of this nature." 33 That it was so formerly, whilst the old canonical hours of prayer 
were strictly observed, I readily allow. But that it is so still, I was not aware : for I 
own myself to be so much a stranger to things of this nature, as to have been hitherto 
of the opinion (though I shall be glad to alter it, wnen I shall be better informed) that, 
upon reducing the seven offices into two, 31 viz. Matins and Even-Song, or Morning and. 
Evening Prayer, as we now generally call them, there were no hours fixed for the say- 
ing of either. The same learned gentleman says further in the same place, that " they 
who terminate the feasts within certain minutes, and because six is the hour of ves- 
pers will allow no latitude, have never considered that in the Scripture language (which 
is the best guide in this matter) what is expressed by the evening, and going doum of 
the sun, in one text, (Deut. xvi. 6,) is called the time between the two evenings in an- 
other (Exod. xii. 6). And the time of the evening sacrifice is expressed by this last 
phrase (Numb, xxviii. 4). And it is notorious that this was any time between the 
ninth and twelfth according to them, the third and sixth with us." These texts of 
Scripture 1 have seen before ; and have since considered how far they help Mr. John- 
son's argument. But I cannot see yet that they prove any more than that they who 
began the day punctually at six one evening, ended it as punctually at six the next. 
But that the Church of England divides her nights and days according to the scrip- 
tural, and not the civil account, is his assertion, and not mine. To him it is clear, but 
not to me, that feasts are to be kept from even-song to even-song inclusively. 35 That 
the festival day is not past till even-song is ended, I willingly grant : but that the fes- 
tival begins at even-song before, wants, I think, a better proof. That the collect for a 
holy-day that hath a vigil or eve, is to be said at the evening service next before, the 
rubric appoints : but that the evening before is therefore part of the festival, I know 
not how to reconcile with another rubric that calls the eve or vigil a fast. 36 I rather 
take it, that the evenings before such festivals as have vigils are designed by the 
Church to be preparations to the festivals, rather than parts of them ; and therefore I 
know not what Mr. Johnson means when he tells us, " that holy-days which begin not 
till morning prayer are not perfect feasts, but were deemed to be of inferior rank by 
them that had the ordering of these matters." When he gives us his authority for 
what he asserts, I shall readily submit : but till then I shall be of the opinion, that 
some festivals which have not vigils are as perfect feasts as some others which have : 
and that their not having vigils assigned them, was not because they are of inferior 
rank, but for the other reasons that I have given above. 

33 See Mr. Johnson's Addenda to his Clergyman's Vade Mecura, at the end of his trvvo eases, pages 106, 
107. 34 See Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, A. i>. 740, 28, and 957, 19. 35 Addenda ut 3upxa. 36 {j ut , 
the rubric at the end of the table of vigils. 

o 2 



198 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. v. 



holy-days whatsoever upon the evening before. I know in- 
deed it may be urged against this last observation, that the 
Collect of the Nativity is directed by another rubric to be 
said continually from Christinas -day unto New-Year s- 
Eve ; and what makes this objection the stronger, is, that be- 
fore the last review of the Liturgy, the Christmas collect was 
to be said until New-Year's-Day. The changing Day there- 
lore for Eve looks something remarkable ; and as if they pur- 
posely designed that the collect of the Circumcision should 
be used on the evening before, and that the collect of the 
Nativity should be then left off : the Church always speaking 
"exclusive of the time or place it mentions in any such direc- 
-tions. What answer to make to this, I own I am at a loss. 
The best I can think of is, that New-Year's-Eve being the 
common name given to the last day of the year, the person 
that altered the rubric might imagine, that the feast of the 
circumcision had really an eve belonging to it. But whatever 
might be the occasion of the alteration, I think it can be 
urged no otherwise against what I have said, than as a single 
exception from a general rule. 

§. 4. Now I am speaking of this, I shall ob- 
Tou e ects 6 not to be serve one thing more ; and that is, that whenever 
used on holy- the collect of a Sunday or holy-day is read at the 
eves! ° r their evening service before, the weekly collect that 
had been in course must be omitted and give 
place. And the same rule, as I take it, should be observed 
upon the holy-day itself, upon which no other collect ought 
to be used, but the proper one for the day. For the rubric, 
at the end of the order how the rest of the service is appoint- 
ed to be read, directs, that the collect, 8fc. for the Sunday 
shall serve all the week after, where it is not otherwise or- 
dered ; which supposes, that in some places it is otherwise 
ordered, which must be (as it was worded in all the old Com- 
mon Prayer Books) when there falls some feast that hath its 
proper, i. e. when any day falls that hath a proper or peculiar 
collect, &c. to itself: upon which occasions the rubric plainly 
supposes, that the collect for the Sunday shall be left out and 
•omitted : the Church never designing to use two collects at 
once, except within the octaves of Christmas, and during Ad- 
vent and Lent; when, for the greater solemnity of those 
solemn seasons, she particularly orders the collects of the prin- 
cipal days to be used continually after the ordinary collects. 



: KTROD.] 



THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



197 



VI. — Of Days of Fasting or Abstinence in general. 

That Fasting or Abstinence from our usual Fastirjg h wan- 
snstenance is a proper means to express sorrow cient and uni- 
and grief, and a fit method to dispose our minds veisal a duty * 
towards the consideration of any thing that is serious, nature 
seems to suggest: and therefore all nations, from ancient 
times, have used fasting as a part of repentance, and as a 
means to avert the anger of God. This is plain in the case of 
the Ninevites, 37 whose notion of fasting, to appease the wrath 
of God, seems to have been common to them with the rest of 
mankind. In the Old Testament, besides the examples of 
private fasting by David, 33 and Daniel, 39 and others ; we have 
instances of public fasts observed by the whole nation of the 
Jews at once upon solemn occasions. 40 It is true, indeed, in 
the New Testament we find no positive precept, that expressly 
requires and commands us to fast : but our Saviour mentions 
fasting with almsgiving and prayer, which are unquestionable 
duties ; and the directions he gave concerning the performance 
of it sufficiently suppose its necessity. And he himself was 
pleased, before he entered upon his ministry, to give us an 
extraordinary example in his own person, by fasting forty days 
and forty nights. 41 He excused indeed his disciples from fast- 
ing, so long as he, the Bridegroom, was with them ; because 
that being a time of joy and gladness, it would be an improper 
season for tokens of sorrow : but then he intimates at the same 
time, that though it was not fit for them then, it would yet be 
their duty hereafter : for the days, says he, will come, when 
the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall 
fast} % And accordingly we find, that after his ascension, the 
duty of fasting was not only recommended, 43 but practised by 
the Apostles, as any one may see by the texts of Scripture 
referred to in the margin. 44 After the Apostles, we find the 
primitive Christians very constant and regular in the observa- 
tion both of their annual and weekly fasts. Their weekly 
fasts were kept on Wednesdays and Fridays, because on the 
one our Lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. The chief 
of their annual fasts was that of Lent, which they observed 
by way of preparation for their feast of Easter. 

™ Jonah iii. 5. 38 p sa l m lxix. 10. ™ Daniel ix. 3. « See Lev. xxiii. 26, &c. 
2 Chron. xx. 3. Ezra viii. 21. Jer. xxxvi. 9. Zech. viii. 19. Joel i. 14. 41 Matt. iv. 2. 
« Matt. ix. 15. 43 i cor. vii. 5. ** Acts xiii. 2, and xiv. 23. 1 Cor. ix. 27. 2 Cor., 
vi. 5, and xi. 27. 



198 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



Days of fastin^ §* ^" Their manner of observing these fasts 
how observed by was very strict ; it being their general custom to 
chdSs. ive abstain from all food, till the public devotion of 
the Church was over : which was about three of 
the clock in the afternoon, though in the time of Lent they 
were not to eat till six in the evening ; and even then they 
forbore both flesh and wine, the greater part of them feeding 
only upon herbs or pulse, with a little bread. Some used the 
dry diet, as nuts and almonds, and such like fruit, whilst 
others fed only upon bread and water. 

„ .. , S. 3. In the Church of Rome, fasting and ab- 

Fastmg and ab- .3 ,. , . . . it™ i 

stinence.howdis- stmence admit or a distinction, and different days 
ChSfofESme? are appointed for each of them. On their days 
of fasting, they are allowed but one meal in four 
and twenty hours : but on days of abstinence, provided they 
abstain from flesh, and make but a moderate meal, they are 
What days ap- indulged in a collation at night. The times by 
pointed for the one them set apart for the first are, all Lent except 
and the other. Sunday8j the e mber-days, the vigils of the more 
solemn feasts, and all Fridays, except those that fall within 
the twelve days of Christmas, and between Easter and the 
Ascension. Their days of abstinence are, all the Sundays in 
Lent, St. Mark's day, if it does not fall into Easter-week, the 
three Rogation-days, all Saturdays throughout the year, with 
the Fridays before excepted, unless either happen to be Christ- 
. , , mas-day. The reason why they observe St. Mark 

St. Mark, why J . . J J 

observed as a day as a day of abstinence is, as we learn from their 
tteRomaS s y own books, in imitation of St. Mark's disciples, 
the first Christians of Alexandria, who, under this 
saint's conduct, were eminent for their great prayer, abstinence, 
and sobriety. They further tell us, that St. Gregory the Great, 
the Apostle of England, first set apart this day for abstinence 
and public prayer, as an acknowledgment of the divine mercy 
in putting a stop to a mortality in his time at Rome. 45 
xr„ a- t-„ §• 4. I do not find that the Church of England 

No distinction °. t n* i • a 

made in the makes any difference between days or fasting and 

Senher^e?" da y s of abstinence : it is true, in the, title of the 

tween days of table of vigils, kc. she mentions fasts and days 

of S abytlnence, a or °f abstinence separately ; but when she comes 

ferentTinds of' to enumerate tne particulars, she calls them all 

food! m s ° days of fasting or abstinence, without distin- 

45 See their Practical Catechism upon the Sundays, Feasts, and Fasts, pages 1S6, 187, 



IKTP.OD.] 



THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



199 



guishing between the one and the other. Nor does she 
any where point out to us what food is proper for such 
times or seasons, or seem to place any part of religion in ab- 
staining from any particular kinds of meat. It is true, by 
a statute still in force, 46 flesh is prohibited on fast-days : but 
this is declared to be for a political reason, viz. for the increase 
of cattle, and for the encouragement of fishery and navigation. 
Not but that the statute allows that abstinence is serviceable 
to virtue, and helps to subdue the body to the mind : but the 
distinction of clean and unclean meats determined, it says, with 
the Mosaic law; and therefore it sets forth, that days and 
meats are in themselves all of the same nature and quality as 
to moral consideration, one not having any inherent holiness 
above the other. And for this reason it is that our Church, 
as I have said, no where makes any difference in the kinds of 
meat : but, as far as she determines, she seems to recommend 
an entire abstinence from all manner of food till the time 
of fasting be over ; declaring in her Homilies, 47 that fasting 
(by the decree of the six hundred and thirty Fathers, assembled 
at the Council of Chalcedon, which was one of the four first 
general Councils i who grounded their determination upon the 
sacred Scriptures, and long -continued usage or practice both of 
the prophets and other godly persons before the coming of 
Christ; and also of the apostles and other devout men in the 
New Testament) is a withholding of meat, drink, and all na- 
tural food from the body, for the determined time of fasting. 

§. 5. The times she sets apart as proper for this 
duty are such as she finds have been observed ^ a e VSasts~ 
with fasting and abstinence by the earliest ages 
of the Church ; which, besides the vigils above mentioned, 
are the forty days of Lent, the ember-days at the four seasons, 
the three rogation-days, and all Fridays in the year, except 
Christmas-day. 

§. 6. Every one of these seasons (except the 
Friday-fast only) will come in turn to be ™ a f£5& 
spoken to hereafter ; and therefore I shall waive 
saying any thing further to them here ; and shall only observe 
of Friday in particular, that it was always observed by the 
primitive Christians as a day of fasting, who thought it very 
proper to humble themselves on the same day weekly, on 

* r > In the second and third of king Edward VI. c. 19. *? See the first part of the 
6ermon of Fasting. 



200 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



which the blessed Jesus humbled himself once, even to the 
death of the cross, for us miserable sinners. 

VII. — Of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels in general. 
tt fi fit,,,™* All the days above mentioned, as well fasts 

How the Church. 1 J ' 

of England ob- as festivals, the Church or England still requires 
serves these days. ug tQ "b servej m suc h manner as may answer the 

end for which they were appointed. To this end she always 
enlarges her ordinary devotions, adding particular Lessons on 
most of them, proper Psalms on some, and the Communion 
Office on all. The proper Lessons and Psalms I shall take 
notice of, when I come to treat of the particular days on which 
they are appointed : but because there are a Collect, Epistle, 
and Gospel appointed for every Sunday and holy-day through- 
out the year ; it is requisite I should first speak of them in 
general, and shew their antiquity as well as their suitableness 
to the days they belong to. And first of their antiquity. 
„, .. .. r 8. 2. That most of our collects are very an- 

I he antiquity, . « , ■ -»-, • 

&c. of the coi- cient, appears by their conformity to the Lpistles 
lects< and Gospels, which are thought to have been se- 

lected by St. Jerome, and put into the Lectionary by him : 
for which reason many believe that the collects also were first 
framed by him. It is certain that Gelasius, who was bishop 
of Rome A. D. 492, ranged the collects, which were then 
used, into order, and added some new ones of his own; 43 
which office was again corrected by pope Gregory the Gre;>t 
in the year 600, whose Sacramentary contains most of the 
collects we now use. But our reformers observing that some 
of these collects were afterwards corrupted by superstitious 
alterations and additions, and that others were quite left out 
of the Roman Missals, and entire new ones, relating to their 
present innovations, added in their room ; they therefore ex- 
amined every collect strictly, and where they found any of 
them corrupted, there they corrected them ; where any 
new ones had been inserted, they restored the old ones ; 
and lastly, at the Restoration, every collect was again re- 
viewed, when whatsoever was deficient was supplied, and all 
that was but improperly expressed, rectified. The several 
alterations both then and at the Reformation shall be noted 
hereafter in their proper places : in the mean while I shall pro- 
ceed to give the like general account of the Epistles and Gospels. 

43 See Dr. Comber's History of Liturgies, part ii. §. 14, p. 68. 



introd.] THEIR, COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



201 



§.3. I have already hinted, that they are The antiquity of 
thought to have been at first selected by St. Je- the Epistles and 
rome, and put into the Lectionary by him. It is Gos P els - 
certain that they were very anciently appropriated to the days 
whereon we now read them ; since they are not only of ge- 
neral use throughout the whole Western Church, but are also 
commented upon in the homilies of several ancient Fathers, 
which are said to have been preached upon those very days, 
to which these portions of Scripture are now affixed. So that 
they have most of them belonged to the same Sundays and 
holy-days we now use them on, for above twelve hundred 
years ; as I might easily shew also from several authorities. 49 

§. 4. In all the old Common Prayer Books, 
except the Scotch one, the Epistles and Gospels ^Ly^euS^ 
were taken out of the Great Bible, neither of the 
two last translations being extant when the Common Prayer 
was first compiled. But in regard of the many defects which 
were observed in that version, and upon the petition of the 
presbyterian commissioners at the Savoy conference, the com- 
missioners on the Church side concluded that all the Epistles 
and Gospels should be used, according to the last translation. 50, 

§.5. The other variations that have been made 
in them, at and since the Reformation, shall be Thei method. and 
taken notice of as I go along : I shall only observe 
further in this place, in relation to them in general, in what 
admirable order and method they are appointed, and what 
special relation they bear to the several days whereon they 
are read. 

The whole year is distinguished into two parts : the design 
of the first being to commemorate Christ's living amongst us ; 
the other to instruct us to live after his example. The former 
takes in the whole time from Advent to Trinity -Sunday ; for 
the latter are all the Sundays from Trinity to Advent. The 
first part being conversant about the life of our Saviour, and 
the mysteries of his divine dispensation : therefore beginning 
at Advent, we first celebrate his incarnation in general, and 
after that in their order the several particulars of it : such as 
were his nativity, circumcision, and manifestation to the Gen- 
tiles ; his doctrine and miracles, his baptism, fasting, and 
temptation ; his agony and bloody sweat ,« his cross and pas- 

« Vid. Liturg. S. Jacob. S. Clem. S. Basil, Walefrid. Strab. de Reb. Eccl. c. 22. 
50 Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners, 1661, p. 15, or in Baxter's 
Narrative, p. 318, and the Papers that passed between the Commissioners, p. 129. 



202 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



s'ton ; his precious death and burial 1 ; his glorious resurrection 
and ascension ; and his sending the Holy Ghost to comfort us. 
During all this time the chief end and design of the Epistles 
and Gospels is to make us remember with thankful hearts 
what unspeakable benefits we receive from the Father, first by 
his Son, and then by his Holy Spirit ; for which we very aptly 
end this part of the year with giving praise and glory to the 
whole blessed Trinity. 

The second part of the year, (which comprehends all the 
whole time from Trinity -Sunday to jldvent,) I observed, is 
to instruct us to lead our lives after our Lord's example. For 
having in the first part of the year learned the mysteries of our 
religion, we are in the second to practise what is agreeable to 
the same. For it concerns us, not only to know that we have 
no other foundation of our religion, than Christ Jesus our 
Lord ; but further also to build upon this foundation such a 
life as he requires of us. And therefore as the first part ends 
with Pentecost, whereon we commemorate a new law given us 
in our hearts ; so the second is to begin with the practice of 
that law : for which reason such Epistles and Gospels are ap- 
pointed, as may most easily and plainly instruct and lead us 
in the true paths of Christianity ; that so those who are rege- 
nerated by Christ, and initiated in his faith, may know what 
virtues to follow, and what vices to eschew. 
The Collect E- §• ®' I take to be a proper place to speak 

pistie, and bos- to the rubric which directs, that the Collect, 
day, f to serve for Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday 
the Aveek after- shall serve all the week after, where it is not in 
this booh otherwise ordered* 1 The principal 
occasion of which provision, I suppose, was a rubric at the 
end of the Communion Office, in the first book of king Edward 
VI. , which ordered, that upon Wednesdays and Fridays, 
though there were none to communicate with the priest, yet 
(after the Litany ended) the priest should put upon him a plain 
alb, or surplice, with a cope, and say all things at the altar 
(appointed to be said at the celebration of the Lord's Supper) 
until after the offertory. — And that the same order should be 
used all other days, whensoever the people accustomably assem- 
bled to pray in the church, and none disposed to communicate 
with him. But though this custom be now laid aside, yet the 

51 See the last rubric in the Order how the re6t of the holy Scripture is appointed to be 
read. 



rXTROD.] 



THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



203 



direction above mentioned is still of use to us, if either at a 
marriage, or at the churching of a woman, (at both which 
times a communion is prescribed by the rubric as convenient,) 
or upon any other such like occasion, the sacrament be admin- 
istered: at which times we are ordered by the rubric I am 
speaking of, to use the same Collect, Epistle, and Gospel as 
were used the Sunday before, wliere it is not otherwise ordered 
in this book. Before the last review it was said, Except some ho _ 
except there fall some feast that hath its proper, iy-day happens in 
i. e. except there fall some holy-day in the week theweek - 
which has a Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of its own; or, as it 
is worded in the Scotch Liturgy, except there fall some feast 
that hath its proper Collect, Epistle, and Gospel ; as it is on 
Ash-Wednesday, and on every day in the holy week next 
before the Pasch or Easter ; in which case the Sunday Col- 
lect, Epistle, and Gospel are to give place to the proper Col- 
lect, Epistle, and Gospel for that day. And this to be sure is 
part of what is intended by the rubric, as it stands now. 
Though the design I suppose of altering the last words into, 
where it is not in this book otherwise ordered, 
was for a direction also at such times as a new ^ason'be^ns. 
season begins between one Sunday and another, 
as it happens upon Ash- Wednesday and Ascension-day. In 
which case the services of those days being placed between 
the services for the Sundays immediately before and after ; I 
take that to be an order that the Collect, &c. for the fore- 
going Sunday shall be then left off, and the Collect, &c. for 
the holy-day shall succeed as the service for the remaining 
part of the week. Which is exactly agreeable to an express 
rubric after the Gospel for Ash-Wednesday in the Scotch 
Liturgy, which enjoins that from Ash- Wednesday to the first 
Sunday in Lent shall be used the same Collect, Epistle, and 
Gospel, which were used on Ash- W ednesday. 

§. 7. In the first Common Prayer Book of king 
Edward VI. there were two Collects, Epistles, nionVfonneriy at 
and Gospels appointed for Christmas-day and ^jg™ asand 
Easter-day, one to be used at the first com- as er ' 
munion, the other at the second : for the churches not afford- 
ing room enough upon those high festivals for all to com- 
municate at once that were willing to come ; therefore the 
sacrament was ordered to be repeated, and a different service 

appointed for each solemnity. As to a double ~ 

r r . , . . J . „ Hi Double commu- 

te mm wmow, the practice is ancient: tor we iind mora on the 



204 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHA?. V. 



same day an an- that pope Leo, writing to Dioscorus, bishop of 
cient practice. Alexandria, advised, that where the churches 
were too small to admit all that were desirous to communicate 
at Once, the priests should administer two or three commu- 
nions in one day, that so they who could not get room to offer 
themselves the first time, might have an opportunity of doing 
it afterwards. Convinced by this authority, Bucer afterwards 
retracted an exception he had made against having two com- 
munions in one day; 52 though in the second review of the 
Liturgy under king Edward, one of these services was laid 
aside, not, I suppose, with intent to forbid a repetition of the 
sacrament, if the minister should see occasion to administer it 
twice, but only that, as the congregation at each time is sup- 
posed to be different, therefore the same service should be 
used for both. 

VIII. — Of Introits in general. 
I should now proceed to give the reasons of the choice of 
the several Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and to shew their 
suitableness to the days they belong to. But because to do 
this it is necessary I should shew what particular blessings the 
Church commemorates at those several times on which they 
are prescribed ; I shall descend to particulars, and first give a 
short account of the several Sundays and holy-days, as they 
stand in order, and then shew how these portions of Scripture 
are to be applied to the day. 

introits what But ^ rst ^ sna ^ ta ^ e tms opportunity to ob- 
they were, and serve, that in the first Common Prayer Book of 
how ancient. king Edward y L? before every Collect, Epistle, 

and Gospel, there is a Psalm printed, which contains some- 
thing prophetical of the evangelical history used upon each 
Sunday and holy-day, or in some way or other proper to the 
day ; which, from its being sung or said while the priest made 
his entrance within the rails of the altar, was called Introitus 
or Introits But in the second edition of king Edward's book 



52 Script. Anglican, p. 465, et 495. 
53 The Introits for every Sunday and holy-day throughout the year 
1 Sunday in Advent . . . Psalm 1 

2 120 

3 4 



4 5 

Christmas-day. At the first commu- 
nion 98 

■ At the second com- 
munion 8 

St. Stephen 52 

St. John the Evangelist . . . 11 

Innocents'-day ..... 79 



Sunday after Christmas-day . Psalm 121 
Circumcision . . . .122 



Epiphany ' 96 

1 Sunday after Epiphany ... 13 

2 14 

3 15 

4 2 

1} 2 ° 

Septuagesima Sunday . . . 23 

Sexagesima ..... 24 



sect, i.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 205 

it was laid aside ; though the reason they had for doing so is 
not easily assigned. For it is very certain that the use of In- 
troits to begin the Communion Office was not only unexcep- 
tionable, but of great antiquity in the Church : Durand prov- 
ing that they were taken into divine service before the time 
of St. Jerome. 54 And it is plain that they would still have 
been very useful, since the want of them is forced to be sup- 
plied by the singing of anthems in cathedrals, and part of a 
psalm in metre in parish churches. And therefore I cannot 
but think, it would have been much more decent for us to 
have been guided by the Church what psalms to have used in 
that intermediate time, than to stand to the direction of every 
illiterate parish clerk, who too often has neither judgment to 
choose a psalm proper to the occasion, nor skill to sing it so 
as to assist devotion. 



Sect. I. — Of the Sundays in Advent. 
Eos, the greater solemnity of the three princi- AdventSun( j ays 
il holy-days, Christmas-day, Easter-day, and 



Quinquagesima Sunday . . Psalm 26 




Psalm 119 


Ash-Wednesday .... 


6 


11 Sunday after Trinity 


part 11 




1 Sunday in Lent .... 


32 










130 










43 


14 . 


. 14 






46 


15 


15 






54 








Sunday next before Easter 


61 










22 








Easter-even 


88 


19 . 


19 




Easter-day. At the first communion 


16 


20 


. 20 




■ At the second commu- 












3 








Monday in Easter-week . 


62 






124 


Tuesday in Easter-week 


113 






125 


1 Sunday after Easter 


112 






127 




70 


St. Andrew- 




129 




75 






128 




83 


Conversion of St. Paul 




138 


5 


84 


Purification of the blessed 


Virgin 




Ascension-day .... 


47 




134 


Sunday after Ascension-day 


93 


St. Matthias . 




140 


Whit-Sunday 


33 






131 


Monday in Whitsun-week 


100 


St. Mark. 




141 


Tuesday in Whitsun-week 


101 


St. Philip and St. James . 




133 




67 






142 


1 Sunday after Trinity . part 1 


119 


St. John the Baptist . 




143 










144 






St. Mary Magdalene . 




146 


4 ...... 4 








14S 






St. Bartholomew 




115 










117 






St. Michael and All Angels 




113 






St. Luke the Evangelist 




137 


» < 9 




St. Simon and St. Jude 




150 










149 



54 De Rit. Eccl. 1. 7, c. 1 1 . 



206 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. V, 



WTiit- Sunday the Church hath appointed certain days to attend 
them : some to go before, and others to come after them. 
_ , Before Christmas are appointed four Advent 

Why so called. ~ 7 ni , . rr i -i • n , 

Sundays, so called, because the design of them 
is to prepare us for a religious commemoration of the Advent, 

or coming of Christ in the flesh. The Roman 
The tS? ity ° f ritualists would have the celebration of this holy 

season to be apostolical, and that it was instituted 
by St. Peter. 55 But the precise time of its institution is not so 
easily to be determined : though it certainly had its beginning 
before the year 450, because Maximus Taurinensis, who lived 
k * f „ ^ na about that time, writ a homily upon it. And it 

Advent sermons . tint* 

formerly preach- is to be observed, that for the more strict and 
ed ' religious observation of this season, courses of 

sermons were formerly preached in several cathedrals on Wed- 
nesdays and Fridays, as it is now the usual practice in Lent. 56 
And we find by the Salisbury Missal, that before the Reform- 
ation there was a Special Epistle and Gospel relating to 
Christ's Advent, appointed for those days during all that time. 
The Collects §* Collects for the first and second Sun- 

days in Advent were made new in 1549, being 
first inserted in the first book of king Edward VI. That for 
the third Sunday was added at the Restoration in the room of 
a very short one not so suitable to the time.* The Collect 
for the fourth Sunday is the same with what we meet with in 
the most ancient offices, except that in some of them it is ap- 
pointed for the first Sunday.f 

The Epistles and Gospels appointed on these 
EP Go t speis. nd days are au " ver y ancient and very proper to the 
time : they assure us of the truth of Christ's first 
coming ; 57 and, as a proper means to bring our lives to a con- 
formity with the end and design of it, they recommend to us 
the considerations of his second coming, when he will execute 
vengeance on all those that obey not his Gospel. 53 
Why the church . §• 3 ' 11 is ™ orth obs erving in this place, that 
begins her year it is the peculiar computation of the Church, to 

* The old Collect was this : " Lord, we beseech thee, give ear to our prayers, and by 
thy gracious visitation lighten the darkness of our hearts, by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Amen." t The words "through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord" were first 
added in the Scotch Liturgy. 

55 Durand. Rational. 1. 6, c. 2, numb. 2, fol. 255. 56 See Dr. Greenvil's Sermon, 
preached in the cathedral of Durham, upon the revival of the ancient and laudable prac- 
tice of that and some other cathedrals, in having sermons on Wednesdays and Fridays 
in Advent and Lent. Quarto, 16 86 . 57 Epistle and Gospel for Sunday 1. Epistle 
for Sunday 2. Gospel for Sunday 3. Epistle and Gospel for Sunday 4. 58 Gospel 
for Sunday 2 and 3. 



sect, it.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 207 



begin her year, and to renew the annual course of at Advent, 
ker service, at this time of Advent, therein differing from all 
other accounts of time whatsoever. The reason of which is, 
because she does not number her days, or measure her sea- 
sons, so much by the motion of the sun, as by the course of 
our Saviour : beginning and counting on her year with him, 
who being the true Sun of Righteousness, began now to rise 
upon the world, and, as the day-star on high, to enlighten 
them that sat in spiritual darkness. 

Sect. II. — Of the Ember- Weeks. 

The first season of the ember-days falling after 
the third Sunday in Advent, I shall take this op- The Jgg" 1 of 
portunity to speak a word or two of them ; which 
are certain days set apart for the consecrating to God the four 
seasons of the year, and for the imploring his blessing by fast- 
ing and prayer, upon the ordinations performed in the Church 
at those times : in conformity to the practice of the Apostles, 
who, when they separated persons for the work of the minis- 
try, prayed and fasted, before they laid on their hands. 59 It 
is true, at the first planting of the Gospel, orders were confer- 
red at any time, as there was occasion : but as soon as the 
Church was settled, the ordination of ministers was affixed to 
certain set times, which was the first original of these four 
weeks of fasting. 

§. 2. They are called ember-weeks (as some mysocalled 
think) from a German word which imports absti- 
nence : though others are of the opinion that they are so called, 
because it was customary among the ancients to express their 
humiliation at those seasons of fasting, by sprinkling ashes 
upon their heads, or sitting on them ; and when they broke 
their fasts on such days to eat only cakes baked upon embers, 
which were therefore called ember-bread. But the most pro- 
bable conjecture is that of Dr. Mareschal, who derives it from 
a Saxon word, importing a circuit or course ; so that these 
fasts being not occasional, but returning every year in certain 
courses, may properly be said to be ember-days, i. e. fasts 
in course. m 

§. 3. They were formerly observed in several 
churches with some variety, 61 but were at last At ^servedl eS 
settled by the Council of Placentia, A. D. 1095, 

» Acts xiii. 3. go In his observations upon the Saxon Gospels, pages 528, 529. 
Cl See the answers of Ecbright upon question 16, in Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, 
A. D. 734. 



208 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



to be the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first 
Sunday in Lent, after Whit-Sunday, after the fourteenth of 
September, which was then observed as the feast of holy- 
cross, and the thirteenth of December, which was then also 
observed in remembrance of St. Lucy. 62 
why ordinations §• 4 - The reasons why the ordinations of minis- 
are fixed to these ters are fixed to these set times of fasting are these : 
times. £ rs ^ t j iat ag men ' s souls are concerned in the 

ordaining a fit clergy, so all may join in fasting and prayer for 
a blessing upon it : secondly, that both bishops and candi- 
dates, knowing the time, may prepare themselves for this great 
work : thirdly, that no vacancy may remain long unsupplied : 
lastly, that the people, knowing the times, may, if they please, 
be present, either to approve the choice made by the bishop, 
or to object against those whom they know to be unworthy ; 
which primitive privilege is still reserved to the people in this 
well-constituted Church. 

Sect. III. — Of Christmas-day. 

How early ob- Though the learned in most ages have dif- 
served in the fered concerning the day and month of our 
church. Saviour's nativity, yet we are certain that the 

festival was very early observed in the primitive Church. And 
if the day was mistaken, yet the matter of the mistake being 
of no greater moment than the false calculation of a day; it 
will certainly be very pardonable in those who perform the 
business of the festival, with as much piety and devotion as 
they could do, if they certainly knew the time. 

§. 2. And that no one may want an opportunity 
Th the e d V ay? f0r to celebrate so great a festival with a suitable 
solemnity, the Church both excites and assists our 
devotion, by an admirable frame of office fitted to the day. 
In the first Lessons 63 she reads to us the clearest prophecies 
of Christ's coming in the flesh ; and in the second Lessons, 64 
Epistle, and Gospel, shews us the completion of those prophe- 
cies, by giving us the entire history of it. In the collect she 
teaches us to pray, that we may be partakers of the benefit of 
his birth, and in the proper psalms she sets us to our duty of 
praising and glorifying God for his incomprehensible mystery. 
The Collect Epis- ^ ne Epistle and Gospel are the same that 
tie, and Gospel, were used in the most ancient Liturgies ; but 

68 Concil. torn. x. col. 502, B. 63 Isa. ix. to ver. 8. chap. vii. ver. 10 to ver. 17. 
64 Luke ii. to ver. 15. Tit. iii. ver. 4 to ver. 9. 



sect, in.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AXD GOSPELS. 



209 



the Collect was made new in 1549. In the first book of 
king Edward VI. they are appointed for the second commu- 
nion, which I suppose was the principal one : since the first 
was probably more early in the morning, for the benefit of 
servants, and others who could not attend at the usual time. 
The Collect for the first communion was different from what 
we now use,* as were also the Epistle and Gospel ; the Epistle 
beginning Tit. ii. ver. 11, to the end ; the Gospel, Luke ii. to 
ver. 15, the last of which we now read for the second Lesson 
in the morning service. 

§. 3. The Psalms for the morning are Psalms The Psalms 
xix. xlv. lxxxv. The xixth was chiefly designed 
to give glory to God for all his works of power and excel- 
lence : the beginning of it, viz. The heavens declare the glorij 
of God, &c, is extraordinarily applicable to the day : for at the 
birth of Christ a new star appeared, which declared his glory 
and deity so plainly, that it fetched wise men from the East 
to come and worship him. The following verses all set forth 
God's goodness, in giving so excellent a rule of life to men, 
and in warning us of the great danger of presumptuous sins. 
The xlvth Psalm is thought to be an epithalamium, or mar- 
riage-song, upon the nuptials of Solomon and the king of 
Egypt's daughter ; but it is mystically, and in a most eminent 
sense, applicable to the union between Christ and his Church. 
The lxxxvth Psalm was principally set for the birth of Christ ; 
and so the primitive Christians understood it ; and therefore 
chose it as a part of their office for this day, as being proper 
and pertinent to the matter of the feast. The prophet indeed 
speaks of it as a thing past, but that is no more than what is- 
usual in all prophecies : for by speaking of things after that 
manner, they signified their prophecies should as surely come 
to pass, as if what they had foretold had already happened. 65 

The evening Psalms are Psalms lxxxix. ex. exxxii. The 
lxxxixth is a commemoration of the mercies performed and 
promised to be continued to David and his posterity to the 
end of the world. The greatest of which mercies, viz. the 
birth of the Messiah, the Church this day celebrates ; and 
therefore appoints this psalm to excite us to thanksgiving for 

* The Collect for the first communion in king Edward's first hook -was this : " God,, 
which makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus 
Christ ; grant, that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure 
confidence behold him, when he shall come to be our Judge, who liveth and reigneth," 
&C 65 Acts ii. 30, 31. 



210 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 



such an inestimable mercy, by shewing us how only the bare 
promise of it, so many ages since, wrought upon the saints of 
those times. The cxth Psalm is a prophecy of the exaltation 
of the Messiah to his regal and sacerdotal office; 66 both which 
are by him exercised at the right hand of the Father, and set- 
tled on him as a reward of his humiliation and passion. 67 The 
cxxxiind Psalm seems to have been at first composed by So- 
lomon upon the building of the temple (part of it being used 
in his prayer at the dedication of it). 68 It recounts David's 
care of the ark, and his desire to build God a temple, and 
God's promises thereupon made to him and his posterity, of 
setting his seed upon the throne till the coming of Christ. 

Sect. IV. — Of the days of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Innocents. 

That the observation of these days is ancient, 
The a them! lty ° f we h ave tne testimonies of several very ancient 
writers, 69 who all assure us that they were cele- 
brated in the primitive times. 

xtr , . , §.2. The placing of them immediately after 

Why observed « . , r ° . J , 

immediately af- Christmas-day was to intimate, as is supposed, 
dayman? hfthe tnat none are tnoil ght fitter attendants on Christ's 
order they are nativity, than those blessed martyrs, who have 
placed. not scrU pi e( j t j a y d wn their temporal lives for 

him, from whose incarnation and birth they received life 
eternal. And accordingly we may observe, that as there are 
three kinds of martyrdom ; the first both in will and in deed, 
which is the highest ; the second in will, but not in deed ; the 
third in deed, but not in will ; so the Church commemorates 
these martyrs in the same order : St. Stephen first, who suf- 
fered death both in will and in deed ; St. John the Evangel- 
ist next, who suffered martyrdom in will, but not in deed, 
being miraculously delivered out of a caldron of burning oil, 
into which he was put before Port Latin in Kome; 70 the holy 
Innocents last, who suffered in deed, but not in will ; for 
though they were not sensible upon what account they suffer- 
ed, yet it is certain that they suffered for the sake of Christ; 
since it was upon the account of his birth that their lives were 
taken away. And besides, wheresoever their story shall be 
told, the cause also of their deaths will be declared and made 

Matt. xxii. 44. Acts ii. 34. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Heb. i. 13. 67 Phil. ii. 8, 9. 
68 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42. 69 Orig. Horn. 3, in Divers, part. 2, p. 282, G. Aug. in Natal. 
Steph. Martyris, Serm. 314, torn. v. col. 1260, B. Chrys. in S. Stephanum, Orat. 135, 
136, torn. v. p. 864, &c. et alibi. ?° T ert . de Praesc. Haer. c. 36, p. 215, A. 



63CT. iv,] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



211 



known : for which reason they cannot be denied, even in the 
most proper sense, to be true martyrs or witnesses of Christ. 

Mr. L'Estrange 71 imagines another reason for the order of 
these days. He supposes St. Stephen is commemorated first, 
as being the first martyr for Christianity : that St. John has 
the second place, as being the disciple which Jesus loved : and 
that the Innocents are commemorated next, because their 
slaughter was the first considerable consequence of our Sa- 
viour's birth. To this he adds another conjecture, viz. " That 
martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as 
w 7 herein Christ is most honoured." 

8. 3. The Collects for the days of St. Stephen 7 _ _ , . 

Q i i , -_. , ± Their Collects, 

and the holy Innocents were made new at the Epistles, and 
Restoration ; and that for St. John was somewhat Gos P els - • 
altered.* But the Epistles and Gospels for all these days are 
the same that we meet with in the oldest offices ; excepting 
that the Epistle for St. John was first inserted at the Re- 
formation, instead of a Lesson out of the xxvth of Ecclesi- 
asticus. 

The reasons of their choice are very plain. On St. Ste- 
phen's day the Epistle gives us an account of his martyrdom, 
and the Gospel assures us, that his blood, and the blood of all 
those that have suffered for the name of Christ, shall be re- 
quired at the hands of those that shed it. On St. John's day 
both the Epistle and the Gospel are taken out of his own writ- 
ings, and very aptly answer to one another : the Epistle con- 
tains St. John's testimony of Christ, and the Gospel Christ's 
testimony of St. John : the Gospel seems applicable to the 
day, as it commemorates this evangelist ; but the Epistle 
seems to be chosen upon account of its being an attendant 
upon the preceding more solemn festival. On the Innocents' 
day the Gospel contains the history of the bloody massacre 
committed by Herod ; and for the Epistle is read part of the 
xivth chapter of the Revelation, shewing the glorious state of 
those and the like innocents in heaven. 

* The old Collect for St. Stephen's day -was this : " Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love 
our enemies hy the example of thy martyr Saint Stephen, -who prayed for .his persecu- 
tors to thee, which livest and reignest," &c. 

In the Collect for St. John's day, after the words, " Evangelist Saint John," followed, 
" may attain to thy everlasting gifts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." 

The Collect for Innocents' day was as follows : " Almighty God, -whose praise this day 
the young innocents thy witnesses have confessed and shewed forth, rot in speaking but 
in dying ; mortify and kill all vices in us, that in our conversation or life -we may express 
thy faith, -which -with our tongues -we do confess, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." 
n Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 137. Lond. 1690. 
p 2 



212 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. v. 



Sect. V. — Of the Sunday after Christmas-day. 

It was a custom among the primitive Chris- 
0et Sr f ?S erly tians t0 observe the Octave, or eighth day after 
their principal feasts, with great solemnity, (the 
reasons whereof shall be given in speaking of the particular 
prefaces in the Communion Office hereafter;) and upon every 
day between the feast and the Octave, as also upon the Octave 
itself, they used to repeat some part of that service which was 
performed upon the feast itself. In imitation of which religious 
custom, this day generally falling within the Octave of Christ- 
mas-day, the Collect then used is repeated now; and the 
Epistle and Gospel still set forth the mysteries of our redemp- 
tion by the birth of Christ. Before the Reformation, instead 
of the present Gospel, was read Luke ii. ver. 33 to ver. 41. 
But then the first of St. Matthew was appointed, which is still 
retained ; excepting that the first seventeen verses, relating 
to our Saviour's genealogy, were left out at the Eestoration. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Circumcision. 

This feast is celebrated by the Church, to 
Th thi S e S° f commemorate the active obedience of Jesus 
Christ in fulfilling all righteousness, which is one 
branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption ; and by 
that means abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaical 
establishment, and putting us under the easier terms of the 
Gospel. 

§. 2. The observation of this feast is not of 
The antiquity of yery great antiquity . fa e fi rst men tion of it un- 
der this title is in Ivo Carnotensis, who lived 
about the year 1090, a little before St. Bernard, which latter 
has also a sermon upon it. In Isidore, and other more early 
writers, it is mentioned under the name of the Octave of Christ- 
mas. The reason why it was not then observed as the feast 
of the circumcision, was probably because it fell upon the 
calends of January, which was celebrated among the heathens 
with so much disorder and revellings, and other tokens of 
idolatry, that St. Chrysostom calls it loprrjv SiafioXiKrjv, the 
DeviVs festival. For which reason the sixth general Council 
absolutely forbade the observation of it among Christians. 73 

™ Concil. Trull. Can. 62. 



sect, vii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



213 



§. 3. The proper services are all very suitable The Lessons 
to the day. The first Lesson for the morning Epistle, and ' 
gives an account of the institution of circum- Gos ^ el - 
cision ; and the Gospel, of the circumcision of Christ : the 
first Lesson at evening, and the second Lessons and Epistle, 
all tend to the same end, viz. that since the circumcision of 
the flesh is now abrogated, God hath no respect of persons, 
nor requires any more of us than the circumcision of the heart. 
The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day were all first in- 
serted in 1549. 

Sect. VII. — Of the Epiphany. 

The word Epiphany in Greek signifies Mani- 
festation, and was at first used both for Christ- ^^^^ 
mas-day, when Christ was manifested in the flesh, 
and for this day, (to which it is now more properly appropri- 
ated,) when he was manifested by a star to the Gentiles : from 
which identity of the word, some have concluded that the 
feasts of Christmas-day and the Epiphany were one and the 
same : but that they were two different feasts, observed upon 
two several days, is plain from many of the Lathers. 73 

But besides this common and more usual name, 
we find two other titles given to it by the an- nameTofit! 
cients, viz. ra ayia (pwra^ the day of the Holy 
Lights; and -a 0£o6aveia, the Theophany, or Manifestation of 
God.' 5 The first name was given it, as being the day whereon 
they commemorated the baptism of Christ, who from that 
time became a light to those that sat in darkness : upon which 
account this day was as solemn for baptizing the catechumens 
among the Latins, as Easter and Whitsuntide among the 
Greeks. And for the greater solemnity of so high a festival, 
it was the custom to adorn the public churches with a great 
number of lights and tapers, when they came to perform the 
service of the day. The reason of the other name is very 
plain, the feast being instituted in commemoration of the first 
manifestations of our Saviour's divinity. 

§. 2. The principal design of the Church's ce- The f t f - t 
lebrating this feast, is to shew our gratitude to to what end in- 
God, in manifesting the Gospel to the Gentile stituted ; 
world, and vouchsafing to them equal privileges with the Jews, 

" Aug. Serm. 102, torn. v. col. 914, F. Greg. Naz. in S. Lum. Orat. 39, torn. i. p. 624, 
6:c. et alii. « Greg. Naz. in Sanct. Lum. re Epiph. Orat. in Ascens. Domini. 



214 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND KOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



who had been all along his peculiar people ; the first instance 
of which divine favour was in declaring the birth of Christ to 
the wise men of the East. 

Three manifesta- §• But, in all, there are three great manifest-, 
tions of Christ ations of our Saviour commemorated on this day ; 
commemorate . ^ Chrysostom tells us, happened on 

the same day, though not in the same year : the first of which 
was what I just now mentioned, viz. his manifestation by a 
star, which conducted the wise men to come and worship him, 
which we commemorate in the Collect and Gospel. The se- 
The Lessons, cond manifestation was that of the glorious Trinity 
Collect, Epistle, at his baptism, mentioned in the second Lesson 
and Gospe,. ^ morn j n g p raver< The second Lesson at even- 
ing service contains the third, which was the manifestation of 
the glory and divinity of Christ, by his miraculous turning 
water into wine. The first Lesson contains prophecies of the 
increase of the Church by the abundant access of the Gentiles, 
of which the Epistle contains the completion, giving an ac- 
count of the mystery of the Gospel's being revealed to them. 
The Collect and Gospel for this day are the same that were 
used in the ancient offices ; but the Epistle was inserted at the 
first compiling of our Liturgy, instead of part of the lxth of 
Isaiah, which is now read for the first Lesson in the morning.* 

Sect. VIII. — Of the Sundays after the Epiphany. 

The design of the Erom Christmas to Epiphany, the Church's 
Epistles and design in all her proper services, is to set forth 
Gospels. g uman j|-y f our Saviour, and to manifest him 

in the flesh : but from the Epiphany to Septuagesima Sunday 
(especially in the four following Sundays) she endeavours to 
manifest his divinity, by recounting to us in the Gospels some 
of his first miracles and manifestations of his Deity. The de- 
sign of the Epistles is to excite us to imitate Christ as far as 
we can, and to manifest ourselves his disciples by a constant 
practice of all Christian virtues. 

The Collects E- §• ^" ^he Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 
pisties, and Gos- the five first Sundays after the Epiphany, are all 
pels " the same as in the "Sacramentary of St. Gregory, 

* In the Common Prayer Books of king James, and down to the Restoration, Isaiah 
the xlth was by mistake (as I presume) set down for the morning first Lesson, instead 
of the lxth, from whence the same error is continued in some of our present books. 
The lxth chapter was undoubtedly designed, being in all the books of king Edward, 
queen Elizabeth, the Scotch Liturgy, and the Sealed Book, at the Restoration. And in 
those books of king James, where the xlth chapter first appears in the table of the Les- 
sons appointed for Holy-days, the lxth chapter stands against the day in the calendar. 



sect, ix.] THEIR, COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



215 



except that the Collect for the fourth Sunday was a little 
amended at the Restoration,* and that before the Reformation 
the Epistle for that day was the same with the Epistle for the 
first Sunday in Advent. 

The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the sixth Sunday were 
all added at the last review ; till when, if there happened to 
be six Sundays after the Epiphany, the Collect, Epistle, and 
Gospel for the fifth Sunday were repeated : though in the 
Salisbury Missal the service of the third Sunday is ordered to 
be used upon such an occasion. 

Sect. IX. — Of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquage- 
sima Sundays. 

Among the several reasons given for the names ^ gQ 
of these Sundays, the most probable seems to be y so c e . 
this : the first Sunday in Lent, being forty days before Eas- 
ter, was for that reason called Quadragesima Sunday, which 
in Latin signifies forty ; and fifty being the next round num- 
ber above forty, as sixty is to fifty, and seventy to sixty; 
therefore the Sunday immediately preceding Quadragesima 
Sunday, being further from Easter than that was, was called 
Quinquagesima (or fifty) Sunday, which is also fifty days in- 
clusive before Easter : and the two foregoing Sundays, being 
still further distant, were for the same reason called Sexa- 
gesima and Septuagesima (sixty and seventy) Sundays. 

§. 2. The observation of these days and the 
weeks following appear to be as ancient as the The t d h e e s ^ n of 
times of Gregory the Great. The design of them 
is to call us back from our Christmas feasting and joy, in or- 
der to prepare ourselves for fasting and humiliation in the 
approaching time of Lent ; from thinking of the manner of 
Christ's coming into the world, to reflect upon the cause of 
it, viz. our own sins and miseries ; that so being convinced 01 
the reasonableness of punishing and mortifying ourselves for 
our sins, we may the more strictly and religiously apply our- 
selves to those duties when the proper time for them comes. 
Some of the more devout Christians observed the whole 
time, from the first of these Sundays to Easter, as a season 
of humiliation and fasting ; though the generality of the peo- 
ple did not begin their fasts till Ash-Wednesday. 

* The old Collect was this : " O God, which knowest us to he set in the midst of so 
many and great dangers, that for man's frailness we cannot always stand uprightly : 
grant to us the health of body and soul, that all those things which we suffer for sin, by 
thy help we may well pass and overcome, through Christ our Lord. Amen." 



216 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP. V. 



The collects, §• 3 * ^he Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 
Epistles, and these days are all the same as in the ancient Li- 
Gospeis. turgies, excepting only the Collect for Quinqua- 

gesima Sunday, which was made new, A. D. 1549. They are 
all of them plainly suitable to the times. The Epistles are all 
three taken out of St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians : the 
two first persuade us to acts of mortification and penance, by 
proposing to us St. Paul's example : but because all bodily ex- 
ercises without charity profit us nothing ; therefore the Church, 
in the Epistle for Quinquagesima Sunday, recommends charity 
to us, as a necessary foundation for all our other acts of religion. 

The design of the Gospels is much the same with that of 
the Epistles : that for Septuagesima Sunday tells us, by way 
of parable, that all that expect to be rewarded hereafter, must 
perform these religious duties now ; and to all those who have 
been so idle as to neglect their duties all their lifetime hither- 
to, it affords comfort, by assuring them, they may still entitle 
themselves to a reward, if they will now set about them with 
diligence and sincerity. The Gospel for Sexagesima Sunday, 
in another parable, admonishes us to be careful and circum- 
spect in the performance of our duty, since there is scarce one 
in four who profess religion, that brings forth fruit to perfec- 
tion. And, lastly, the Gospel for Quinquagesima Sunday 
shews us how we are to perform these duties ; advising us by 
the example of the blind beggar to add faith to our charity, 
and to continue incessant in our prayers, and not to despair 
of the acceptance of them, because we are not immediately 
heard, but to cry so much the more, Jesus, thou Son of Da- 
vid, have mercy on us. 

§. 4. The Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sun- 
^hy^Sed!' da > r is generally called Shrove-Tuesday ; a name 
given it from the old Saxon words, shrive, shrift, 
or shrove, which in that language signifies to confess ; it be- 
ing a constant custom amongst the Roman Catholics to con- 
fess their sins on that day, in order to receive the blessed Sa- 
crament, and thereby qualify themselves for a more religious 
observation of the holy time of Lent immediately ensuing. 
But this in process of time was turned into a custom of invita- 
tions, and their taking their leave of flesh and other dainties ; 
and afterwards, by degrees, into sports and merriments, which 
still in that Church make up the whole business of the car- 
nival. 



ssct. x.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 217 



Sect. X. — Of the Forty days in Lent. 

Though it ought to be the constant endeavour The necessityof 
of a Christian to observe his duty at all times, some set time lor 
and to have always a great regard to what God humiliation - 
requires of him ; yet, considering the great corruption of the 
world, and the frailty of our nature, and how often w r e trans- 
gress the bounds of our duty, and how backward we are to 
cross our fleshly appetites, it is very expedient we should 
have some solemn season appointed for the examining our 
lives, and the exercise of repentance. 

§. 2. And accordingly we find that, from the 
very first ages of Christianity, it was customary The o? lt? Ulty 
for the Christians to set apart some time for mor- 
tification and self-denial, to prepare themselves for the feast 
of Easter. Irenaeus, who lived but ninety years from the 
death of St. John, and conversed familiarly with St. Poly carp, 
as Polycarp had with St. John, has happened to let us know, 
though incidentally, that as it was observed in his time, so it 
was in that of his predecessors. 76 

§. 3. As to its original, the present lord bishop Its orio . inal 
of Bath and Wells, in his learned Discourse con- 
cerning Lent, has shewed, by very probable arguments, that 
the Christian Lent took its rise from the Jewish preparation 
to their yearly expiation. He likewise proves out of their own 
writers, that the Jews began their solemn humiliation forty 
days before the expiation. Wherefore the primitive Chris- 
tians, following their example, set up this fast at the beginning 
of Christianity, as a proper preparative for the commemoration 
of the great expiation of the sins of the whole world. 

§. 4. It is true indeed, as to the length of it, 
the Christian Lent was observed w r ith great variety g^SiSfiSt. 
at first : some fasting only one day, some two, 
some more, and some for forty days together, i. e. if Eusebius 
be rightly understood by the learned Dr. Grabe : if not, we 
must reduce the forty days to an entire abstinence of forty 
hours only, according to Valesius ; 77 from which number of 
hours some think it is most probable this fast was first called 
TeaaapaKoan), or quaclragesima ; as beginning about twelve on 
Friday, (the time of our Saviour's falling under the power of 

'<'> Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 24, p. 192, D. Vid. Euseb. ut supra, et Vales, et 

Devereg. in loc. p. 247, edit. Reading. 



218 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



death,) and continuing till Sunday morning, the time of his 
rising again from the dead. But afterwards it was enlarged to 
a longer time, drawn out into more days, and then weeks, till 
it was at last fixed to forty days ; which number seems very 
anciently to have been appropriated to repentance and humili- 
ation. For not to reckon up the forty days in which God 
drowned the world, 78 or the forty years in which the children 
of Israel did penance in the wilderness, 79 or the forty stripes 
by which malefactors were to be corrected ; 80 whoever con- 
siders that Moses did, not once only, fast this number of 
days, 81 that Elias also fasted in the wilderness the same space 
of time, 83 that the Ninevites had precisely as many days al- 
lowed for their repentance, 83 and that our blessed Saviour him- 
self, when he was pleased to fast, observed the same length of 
time : 84 whoever, I say, considers these things, cannot but 
think that this number of days is very suitable to extraordi- 
nary humiliation. 

Wh called Lent §' ^ fc rece i ves i ts name from the time of the 
yca e e year wherein it is observed ; Lent, in the old 
Saxon language, signifying Spring, being now used to signify 

this spring fast, which always begins so that it 
^Easter d at ma y en( ^ at faster '■> to remind us of our Saviour's 

sufferings, which ended at his resurrection. 
Howobserved by §• 6 ' during this whole season, they were used 
the primitive to give the most public testimonies of sorrow and 
Christians. repentance, and to shew the greatest signs of 
humiliation that can be imagined : no marriages were allowed 
of, nor any thing that might give the least occasion to mirth 
or cheerfulness ; 85 insomuch that they would not celebrate the 
memories of the Apostles or martyrs, that happened within 
this time, upon the ordinary week-days, but transferred the 
commemoration of them to the Saturdays or Sundays. 86 For 
the Eastern Christians, as I have already observed, 87 celebrated 
Saturday as well as Sunday as a day of festival devotions. But 
except on those two days, even the holy eucharist was not 
consecrated during the whole time of Lent, that being an act, 
as those Fathers thought, more suitable and proper for a fes- 
tival than a fast. 88 On those days indeed they consecrated 
enough to supply the communions of each dav, till either 

™'Gen. vii. 4. « Numb. xiv. 34. 8 ° Deut. xxv. 3. « Dent. ix. 9, 18, 25. 
82 1 Kings xix. 8. 83 Jonah iii. 4. 8 * Matt. iv. 2. 85 Concil. Laod. Can. 52, 
tom.i. col. 1505, C. 60 Concil. Laod. Can. 51. 87 p a g e 1S6. 6S Ibid. Can. 4a 



sect, xi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



219 



Saturday or Sunday returned again. For though the sacra- 
ment was not consecrated on the ordinary week-days, yet it 
was customary to receive it every day ; and therefore to those 
that came to communicate upon any of those days, they ad- 
ministered out of what the Greeks call the ir^yLaafxiva, the 
Latins p7\cesanctijicata, both which words signify the same 
thing, viz. the bread and wine that were ready consecrated. 

Nor was the demeanour of the primitive Christians at home 
less strict and austere than their discipline at church ; they lay 
in sackcloth and ashes, and took no care of their garb or dress ; 
they used no other food but what was necessary to preserve 
life ; 89 some abstaining from flesh and wine ; others, especially 
the Greeks, forbearing all fish likewise as well as flesh : some 
contented themselves with eggs and fruits; others forbore both, 
and lived upon bread, herbs, and roots : but all agreed in this, 
viz. that whereas at other seasons their fasts continued but till 
three in the afternoon, they would not on any day in Lent eat 
till the evening, 90 and then such food as was least delicate. 91 

Sect. XI. — Of Ash- Wednesday, or the first day of Lent. 

The first day of Lent had formerly two names, 
one of which was Caput Jejunii, the Head of the tMsVayf 13 
Fast ; the other, Dies Cinerum, Ash-Wednes- 
day. The first compilation was given because Lent began 
on that day ; for since it was never the custom of the Church 
to fast on Sundays, (whereon we commemorate so great a 
blessing as our Saviour's resurrection,) therefore we begin 
Lent on this day, to supply the room of those Sundays. Lor 
if you deduct out of the six weeks of Lent the six Sundays, 
there will remain but thirty-six fasting-days, to which these four 
of this week being added, make up the exact number of forty. 

§. 2. The name of Ash-Wednesday proceeded 
from a custom in the ancient discipline, which W wednesday Sh 
began very early to be exercised on this day ; an 
account whereof we have in Gratian 92 as follows : 

On the first day of Lent the penitents were to present them- 
selves before the bishop clothed with sackcloth, with naked 
feet, and eyes turned to the ground : and this was to be done 
in the presence of the principal of the clergy of the diocese, who 



80 Tertull. de Pcenit. passim. B ° Basil. Horn. 1, de Jejun. et Prudent. Hymn, ante 
Cibum. - 9i Eniphan. Expos. Fid. Cathol. c. 22, torn. i. p. 1105, B.C. 92 1 Part 
Deer. Dist. 50, c. (34, torn. i. p. 331. . 



220 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap, v 



were to judge of the sincerity of their repentance. These in- 
troduced them into the church, where the bishop, all in tears, 
and the rest of the clergy, repeated the seven penitential 
psalms. Then rising from prayers, they threw ashes upon 
them, and covered their heads with sackcloth ; and then with 
mournful sighs declared to them that as Adam was thrown out 
of Paradise, so they must be thrown out of the Church. 
Then the bishop commanded the officers to turn them out of 
the church-doors ; and all the clergy followed after, repeating 
that curse upon Adam, In tJie sweat of thy brow slialt thou 
eat thy bread. The like penance was inflicted upon them the 
next time the Sacrament was administered, which was the 
Sunday following. And all this was done to the end that the 
penitents, observing how great a disorder the Church was in by 
reason of their crimes, should not lightly esteem of penance. 
How observed §• 3. Though this discipline was severe, yet the 
i>y the Church of many good consequences of it shewed it worthy 
the imitation of all Churches in succeeding ages ; 
and ours in particular heartily bewails the want of it : but till 
she can be so happy as to succeed in discharging those obli- 
gations she lies under to restore it, she supplies that want, by 
adding to her ordinary service a very proper and suitable office 
called the Commination, which shall be treated of hereafter in 
its turn. 

The Psalms §" ^' ^ n ^ e ordinary morning and evening 
ie sams. serv i cej instead of the Psalms for the day, are 
appointed six of David's penitential Psalms, (the seventh be- 
ing used in the office of Commination :) concerning which we 
need only observe, that they are the very forms wherein that 
royal prophet expressed his repentance, and were all composed 
by him in times of affliction, and contain supplications and 
prayers to be delivered from all temporal and spiritual ene- 
mies ; and have, for this reason, been very much esteemed of 
in the Church in all ages, 93 and were always thought proper to 
be used in times of humiliation and repentance. 
The Collect §• 5. The Collect for this day was made new at 
Epistle, and the compiling of the Liturgy; the Epistle and 
Gospel. Gospel were taken out of the old offices. For 
the former is read part of Joel, which, together with the latter, 
cautions us to be very careful, that, whilst we seem to be ready 
at all external signs of sorrow, we be not void of internal con- 
trition. 

03 Grepr. Mas. Comment, in 7 Psal. Poen. torn. iii. col. 369. &c. 



sect, xii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



221 



§. 6. There are no proper Lessons appointed k Lessons a P 
for this day, which I presume proceeded from an pointed, 
omission of the compilers. 

Sect. XII. — Of the Sundays in Lent. 

Though the Church allows us to interrupt our The CollectSr 
fasts on the Sundays in Lent, by reason of the Epistles, and 
eminency of those days ; yet, lest the pleasant- Gos P eL - 
ness of those intervals should entice us to a discontinuance of 
our mortification and abstinence in the returning week-days, 
when we ought to renew it with the greater zeal, she takes care 
to remind us of the duties we have undertaken, and therefore 
in the Epistles (which were continued from the old Missals) 
sets before us the obligations we lie under of returning to our 
acts of self-denial and humiliation. But because all this with- 
out charity is nothing worth, the Gospels (which are of the 
same antiquity) are designed to excite us to the exercise of that 
great duty in all its branches, by proposing to us the example 
of our great Lord and Master, the blessed Jesus, who not only 
fasted and withstood the greatest temptations of doing evil in 
his own person, 94 but went about seeking opportunities of do- 
ing good to others ; healing the sick, 95 feeding the hungry, 96 
blessing those that cursed him, 97 and doing good to those that 
despitefully used him : 98 in all which actions we are, at this 
time especially, bound to imitate him. The Collects, as well 
as the Epistles and Gospels, for all these Sundays, are the 
same that we meet with in the old offices, excepting that the 
first was made new at the Reformation, and the last is, in the 
Liturgy of St. Ambrose, appointed for Good-Eriday. 

§. 2. The Sundays in Lent are by our own 
Church, as well as the Greek, generally termed ^'named^ 
by their number, being called the first, second, 
and third Sunday, &c. in Lent ; but the three last are some- 
times distinguished by particular names of their own : the 
fourth, for instance, is with us generally called 
Midlent-Sunday ; though bishop Sparrow, and Ml(Uent - SuDda y- 
some others, term it Dominica Refectionis, the Sunday of 
Refreshment : the reason of which, I suppose, is the Gospel 
for the day, which treats of our Saviour's miraculously feeding 
five thousand ; or else perhaps the first Lesson in the morning, 
which gives us the story of Joseph's entertaining his brethren. 

« Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent. 95 p r the second. 56 For the third. 
97 For the fourth. as p or the fifth. 



222 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



The probable rise And tne appointment of these Scriptures upon 
of Midienting or this day might probably give the first rise to a 
Mothering. custom still retained in many parts of England, 
and well known by the name of Midienting or Mothering. 
Passion-Sunday ^ tn Sunday in Lent is, by the Latins 

especially, often called Passion- Sunday ,- though 
I think that would be a more proper name for the Sunday fol- 
lowing : but the reason, I suppose, why that title is thrown 
back to this, is because the Sunday next before Easter is 
Paim-Sunda generally called Palm-Sunday, in commemora- 
tion of our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jeru- 
salem, when the multitude that attended him strewed palm- 
branches in his way : 99 in remembrance of which palms were 
used to be borne here with us upon this day till the second 
year of king Edward VI. 100 

Sect. XIII. — Of the Passion -Week. 

Passion-Week ^ HE f°H° wm g week was by some looked upon 
as a distinct time of fasting from the foregoing 
Lent, and as instituted upon different accounts : that being 
observed in imitation of our Saviour's fasting, &c, as has been 
already observed ; this in commemoration of his sufferings and 
passion, which were then completed. 1 But by others it was 
only accounted a continuation of the same fast in a stricter 
degree : it being generally called the great week, 2 not because 
it had more hours or days in it than any other week, but be- 
cause in this week was transacted an affair of the greatest im- 
portance to the happiness of man, and actions truly great were 
performed to secure his salvation : death was conquered, the 
devil's tyranny was abolished, the partition-wall betwixt Jew 
and Gentile was broken down, and God and man were recon- 
ciled. 3 It was also called the holy-week, from 
Sk^and'how 7 " those devout exercises which Christians employed 
formerly ob- themselves in upon this occasion. They applied 
serve ' themselves to prayer, both in public and private, 
to hearing and reading God's holy Word, and exercising a most 
solemn repentance for those sins which crucified the Lord of 
life. They observed the whole week with great strictness of 

99 Isid. Hispal. de Offic. Eccl. lib. 1, cap. 27. wo Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 241. 
1 Anastasius Antiochenus (qui vivit 655) in Coteleri Notis in Const. Apostol. 1. 5, c. 13, 
torn. i. p. 316, edit. Cleric. Antw. 1698, et Matthaeus Monachus ibid. 2 vide Vales, 
in Euseb. 1. 5, c. 24, p. 247, col. 2, edit. Reading. M s Chrys. Horn. 30, in Gen. xi. 1 
turn. i. p. 235. 



sect, x THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



223 



fasting and humiliation ; some fasting three days together ; 
some four; and others, who could bear it, the whole six; be- 
ginning on Monday morning, and not eating any thing again 
till cock-crowing on the Sunday morning following. And se- 
veral of the Christian emperors, to shew what veneration they 
had for this holy season, caused all lawsuits to cease, and tri- 
bunal doors to be shut, and prisoners to be set free ; 4 thereby 
imitating their great Lord and Master, who by his death at 
this time delivered us from the prison and chains of sin. 

§. 2. The Church of England uses all the H(m ol)served bv 
means she can. to retain this decent and pious the church of 
custom, and hath made sufficient provision for En s lantL 
the exercise of the devotion of her members in public ; call- 
ing us every day this week to meditate upon our Lord's suf- 
ferings, and collecting in the Lessons, Epistles, and Gospels, 
most of those portions of Scripture that relate to this tragical 
subject, to increase our humiliation by the consideration of 
our Saviour's ; to the end that with penitent hearts, and firm 
resolution of dying likewise to sin, we may attend our Saviour 
through the several stages of his bitter passion. 

§. 3. Our reformers did not much confine them- The Gospels 
selves to the Gospels appointed for this week by 
the ancient offices ; but thought, as there was time enough to 
admit of it, it would be most regular and useful to read all the 
four Evangelists' accounts of our Saviour's passion, as they 
stand in order. To this end they have ordered St. Matthew's 
account on the Sunday, appointing the xxvith chapter for the 
second Lesson, and the xxviith, as far as relates to his crucifix- 
ion, for the Gospel.* On Monday and Tuesday is read the 
story as by St. Mark ; on Wednesday and Thursday that by 
St. Luke,f and on Good-Friday the xviiith of St. John is ap- 
pointed for the second Lesson, and the xixth for the Gospel."! 
The Epistles also that are now appointed are 



more suitable to the season, than those that were 
found in older offices. 

As for the Collect, the same that is used on the 
Sunday before is appointed (as indeed a very pro- 



Epistles. 



And Collect. 



* Both the xxvith and xxviith chapters were read for the Gospel on the Sunday before 
Easter till the last review, and the xxviith was continued to the end of the 56th verse. 

t The xvth of St. Mark, which was the Gdspel for Tuesday, and Luke xxiii., which 
Was appointed for Wednesday, were in all former hooks read throughout. 

t Both the chapters of St. John were appointed for the Gospel in the former hooks. 
4 Cod. Theod. lib. 9, tit. 35, de Qusestione 4, torn. iii. p. 252. 



224 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



per one) to be used on the four days following till Good-Fri- 
day : on which day it is also appointed in the Liturgy of St. 
Ambrose, though in other offices it is found, as with us, upon 
the Sunday before. 

Sect. XIV. — Of the Thursday before Easter. 

Maundy-Timrs- This day is called {Dies Mandati) Mandate or 
day, why so call- Maundy -Thursday, from the commandment 
which our Saviour gave his Apostles to com- 
memorate the Sacrament of his Supper, which he this day in- 
stituted after the celebration of the Passover ; and which was, 
for that reason, generally received in the evening of the day : 5 
or, as others think, from that new commandment which he 
gave them to love one another, after he had washed their feet, 
in token of the love he bore to them, as is recorded in the 
second Lesson at morning prayer. 

§. 2. The Gospel for this day is suitable to the 
Epistle and Cos- time> as treat i ng f our Saviour's passion ; but 

the Epistle is something different, containing an 
account of the institution of the Lord's Supper : the constant 
celebration of which on this day, both in the morning and in 
the evening, after supper, 6 in commemoration of its being first 
instituted at that time, rendered that portion of Scripture very 
suitable to the day. 

The form of re- §• ^' ® n tn * s tne Penitents, that were put 
conciiing Peni- out of the church upon Ash-Wednesday, were 
tents. received again into the church, partly that they 

might be partakers of the holy Communion, and partly in re- 
membrance of our Lord's being on this day apprehended and 
bound, in order to work our deliverance and freedom. 7 

The form of reconciling Penitents was this : the bishop went 
out to the doors of the church where the Penitents lay pros- 
trate upon the earth, and thrice, in the name of Christ, called 
them, Come, come, come, ye children, hearken to me ; I will 
teach you the fear of the Lord. Then, after he had prayed 
for them, and admonished them, he reconciled them, and 
brought them into the church. The Penitents thus received, 
trimmed their heads and beards, and laying off their peniten- 
tial weeds, reclothed themselves in decent apparel. 8 

5 Concil. Carthag. 3, Can. 29. Codex. Can. Eccles. Afric. Can. 41. 6 Concil. Car- 
thag. 3, Can. 29. Codex Can. Eccles. Afric. Can. 41. Concil. Trul. Can. 29. Aug. ad 
Jan. Ep. 118. 7 Innocent. Epist. ut citat. ab Ivo, part. 15, cap. 40, et a Barchardo, 
1.18, CIS. » Capit. 1. 7, c. 143. 



sect, xv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



225 



"Why so called. 



§. 4. It may not be amiss to observe, that the The church . 
church-doors used to be all set open on this day, doors always set 
to signify that penitent sinners, coming from open on thls day ' 
north or south, or any part of the world, should be received 
to mercy, and the Church's favour. 

Sect. XV.— Of Good-Friday. 

This day received its name from the blessed 
effects of our Saviour's sufferings, which are the 
ground of all our joy, and from those unspeakable good things 
he hath purchased for us by his death, whereby the blessed 
Jesus made expiation for the sins of the whole world, and, by 
the shedding his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for 
us. Among the Saxons it was called Long -Friday ,- 9 but for 
what reasons (excepting for the long fastings and offices they 
then used) does not appear. 

§. 2. The Commemoration of our Saviour's 
sufferings hath been kept from the very first age Why f f S ved as 
of Christianity, 10 and was always observed as a 
day of the strictest fasting and humiliation ; not that the grief 
and affliction they then expressed did arise from the loss they 
sustained, but from a sense of the guilt of the sins of the 
whole world, which drew upon our blessed Redeemer that 
painful and shameful death of the Cross. 

§. 3. The Gospel for this day (besides its com- The Gospel, why 
ing in course) is properly taken out of St. John taken out of 
rather than any other Evangelist, because he was Samt John * 
the only one that was present at the passion, and stood by the 
cross while others fled : and therefore, the passion being as it 
were represented before our eyes, his testimony is read who 
saw it himself, and from whose example we may learn not to 
be ashamed or afraid of the cross of Christ. 11 — The Ep j stle 
The Epistle proves from the insufficiency of the 
Jewish sacrifices, that they only typified a more sufficient 
one, which the Son of God did as on this day offer up, and by 
one oblation of himself then made upon the cross, completed 
all the other sacrifices, (which were only shadows of this,) and 
made full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. In 
imitation of which Divine and infinite love, the _ „ T1 t 

/-ii i i i i i-i The Collect. 

Church endeavours to shew her charity to be 

9 See the thirty-seventh Canon of Elfric in Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, A. D. 
&.'//. 10 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 2, cap. 17, p. 57, B. Aqost. Const 1. 5,c. 13. 
11 Rupertus de Officiis Divinis 1. 6 c. 8. 



226 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP, v. 



boundless and unlimited, by praying in one of the proper Col- 
lects, that the effects of Christ's death may be as universal 
as the design of it, viz. that it may tend to the salvation of 
all, Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics.* 

The Psalms §' ^' "^ ow smta ^ e tQe P ro P er psalms are to 
e sams. ^ e ^ay, is obvious to any one that reads them 
with a due attention : they were all composed by David in 
times of the greatest calamity and distress, and do most of 
them belong mystically to the crucifixion of our Saviour; 
especially the twenty-second, which is the first for the morn- 
ing, which was in several passages literally fulfilled by his 
sufferings, and either part of it, or all, recited by him upon 
the cross. 12 And for that reason (as St. Austin tells us) 13 was 
always used upon that day by the African Church. 

mi T S. 5. The first Lesson for the morning is 

The Lessons. ^ • •• . • • n a i 

Genesis xxn., containing an account of Abra- 
ham's readiness to offer up his son ; thereby typifying that 
perfect oblation which was this day made by the Son of God : 
which was thought so proper a Lesson for this occasion, that 
the Church used it upon this day in St. Austins time. 14 The 
second Lesson is St. John xviii., which needs no explana- 
tion. The first Lesson for the evening 15 contains a clear pro- 
phecy of the passion of Christ, and of the benefits which the 
Church thereby receives. The second Lesson 16 exhorts us to 
patience under afflictions, from the example of Christ, who 
suffered so much for us. 

Sect. XYL— Of Easter-eve. 

How observed in This Eve was in the ancient Church celebrated 
the primitive with more than ordinary devotions, with solemn 
Church. watchings, with multitudes of lighted torches 

both in their churches and their own private houses, and 
with a general resort and confluence of all ranks of people. 17 
At Constantinople it was observed with most magnificent 
illuminations, not only within the Church, but without. All 
over the city lighted torches were set up, or rather pillars of 
wax, which gloriously turned the night into day. 18 All which 
was designed as a forerunner of that great light, even the 

* In the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward, the first of the Collects for this 
day is appointed to be used at matins only ; the other two at the Communion. 

12 See Matt, xxvii. 35, 43, 46. ™ Aug. in Psalm, xxi. in Praefat. Serm. 2. 

August. Serm. de Temp. 71. 15 Isaiah liii. 16 1 Peter ii. * 7 Greg. Naz. 
Orat. 42, torn. i. p. 676, D. Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. 4, cap. 22, p. 536, A. B. 



sect, xvii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



227 



Sun of Righteousness, which the next day arose upon the 
world. 

As the day was kept as a strict fast, so the vigil continued 
at least till midnight, the congregation not being dismissed till 
that time ; 19 it being a tradition of the Church, that our Sa- 
viour rose a little after midnight : but in the East the vigil 
lasted till cock-crowing ; the time being spent in reading the 
Law and the Prophets, in expounding the holy Scriptures, 
and in baptizing the catechumens. 20 

§. 2. Such decent solemnities would in these Ho wobservedby 
days be looked upon as popish and antichristian : the church of 
for which reason, since they are only indifferent En s land - 
(though innocent) ceremonies, the Church of England hath 
laid them aside : but for the exercise of the devotions of her 
true sons, she retains as much of the primitive discipline as 
she can ; advising us to fast in private, and calling us together 
in public, to meditate upon our Saviours death, burial, and 
descent into hell: which article of our faith the public service 
of the Church this day confirms, the Gospel 
treating of Christ's body lying in the grave, the The *** 
Epistle of his soul's descent into hell. It is true, 
the Epistle is by some people otherwise interpreted : but the 
other parts of it are, notwithstanding, very proper for Easter- 
eve ; the former part of it exciting us to suffer cheerfully, 
even though for well doing, after the example of Christ, who, 
as at this time, had once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
just ; the latter part shewing us the end and efficacy of bap- 
tism, which was always, in the primitive Church, administered 
to the catechumens on this day. 

§. 3. Till the Scotch Liturgy was compiled, Th c llect 
there was no particular Collect for this day ; those e ec ' 
for Good-Friday, I suppose, were repeated : and that which 
was appointed in the Scotch Liturgy was different from our 
present one, which I shall therefore give the reader below.* 

Sect. XVII.— 0/ Easter-dmj. 
Having now, as it were, with the Apostles and 
first believers, stood mournfully by the cross on Easter - da y- 

* O most gracious God, look upon us in mercy, and grant that as we are baptized 
into the death of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ; so by our true and hearty repent- 
ance all our sins may be buried with him, and we not fear the grave : that as Christ was 
raised up from the dead by the glory of thee, O Father, so we also may walk in newness 
of life, but our sins never be able to rise in judgment against us, and that for the merit 
»f Jesus Christ, that died, was buried, and rose again for us. Amen. 

19 Const. Apost. lib. 5, cap. IS. » Const. Apost. lib. 5, cap. 14, 17, 18. 

a 2 



228 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP. v. 



Good-Friday, and on the day following been again over- 
whelmed with grief, for the loss of the Bridegroom ; the 
Church this day, upon the first notice of his resurrection from 
the grave, calls upon us, with a becoming and holy transport, 
to turn our lieaviness into joy, to put off our sackcloth, and 
gird ourselves with gladness. 

When first ob- §• 2. That in and from the times of the Apos- 
served, and why ties, there has been always observed an anniver- 
sary festival in memory of Christ's resurrection, 
(which from the old Saxon word oster, signifying to rise, we 
call Easter-day, or the day of the resurrection or, as others 
think, from one of the Saxon goddesses called Easter, which 
they always worshipped at this time of the year,) no man can 
doubt, that hath any insight into the affairs of the ancient 
Church : in those purer times, the only dispute being not about 
the thing, but the particular time when the festival was to be 
kept. But of this I have said enough before. 21 

The anthems in §* ^' ^ s ^ or manner of observing it, we 
stead a of SreVe- find that it was always accounted the queen, or 
whyfp^oS 8 ' hi $ hest of festivals, and celebrated with the 
greatest solemnity. 22 In the primitive times the 
Christians of all Churches on this day used this morning sa- 
lutation, Christ is risen ; to which those who were saluted 
answered, Christ is risen indeed ; or else thus, and hath ap- 
peared unto Simon ,- 23 a custom still retained in the Greek 
Church. 24 And our Church, supposing us as eager of the joy- 
ful news as they were, is loath to withhold from us long the 
pleasure of expressing it ; and therefore, as soon as the Abso- 
lution is pronounced, and we are thereby rendered fit for re- 
joicing, she begins her office of praise with anthems proper to 
the day, encouraging her members to call upon one another 
to keep the feast : for that Christ our Passover is sacrificed 
for us, and is also risen from the dead, and become the first- 
fruits of tlie?n that slept, &c* 

* The first of these sentences was added at the last review: the second (which was 
the first in king Edward's first Common Prayer) was concluded with two Allelujabs, 
and the next with one. After which was inserted as follows : 

" The Priest. Shew forth to all nations the glory of God. 
" The Answer. And among all people his wonderful works. 
" Let us pray. 

" O God, who for our redemption didst give thine only-begotten Son to the death of 
the cross ; and, by his glorious resurrection, hast delivered us from the power of our 
enemy ; grant us so to die daily from sin, that we may evermore live with him in the 
joy of his Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." 

« See page 36, &c. 22 Greg. Naz. Orat. 42, torn. i. p. 676, C 33 Luke xxiv. 34. 
«* Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 32. 



sect, xvii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 229 



§. 4. The Psalms for the morning are Psalm ii. ^ Psaimg 
lvii. cxi. The first of which was composed by e salms " 
David, upon his being triumphantly settled in his kingdom, 
after some short opposition made by his enemies : but it is also 
(as the Jews themselves confess) a prophetical representation 
of Christ's inauguration to his regal and sacerdotal offices; 
who after he had been violently opposed, and even crucified 
by his adversaries, was raised from the dead, by the power of 
his Father, and exalted to those great ofrices in the successful 
exercise whereof our salvation consists. The lviith Psalm was 
occasioned by David's being delivered from Saul, by whom he 
was pursued after he had been so merciful to him in the cave, 
when he had it in his power to destroy him ; and, in a mystical 
sense, contains Christ's triumph over death and hell. The last 
Psalm for the morning is a thanksgiving to God for all the 
marvellous works of our redemption, of which the resurrection 
of Christ is the chief; and therefore, though the Psalm does 
not peculiarly belong to the day, yet it is very suitable to the 
business of it. 

The Psalms for evening prayer are cxiii. cxiv. cxviii. The 
cxiiith was designed to set forth, in several particulars, the ad- 
mirable providence of Cod, which being never more discernible 
than in the great work of our redemption, this Psalm can never 
be more seasonably recited. The cxivth Psalm is a thanks- 
giving for the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt ; which being 
a type of our deliverance from death and hell, makes this 
Psalm very proper for this day. The last Psalm for the day 
is the cxviiith, which is supposed to have been composed at 
first upon account of the undisturbed peace of David's king- 
dom, after the ark was brought into Jerusalem : but it was 
secondarily intended for our Saviour's resurrection, to which 
we find it applied both by St. Matthew and St. Luke. 25 

§. 5. The first Lessons for the morning and The LessoI1Si 
evening service contain an account of the Pass- collect, Epistle, 
over, and of the Israelites' deliverance out of and Gospel * 
Egypt, both very suitable to the day : for by their Passover 
Christ our Passover was prefigured ; and the deliverance of 
the Israelites out of Egypt, and the drowning of Pharaoh and 
his host in the Red Sea, was a type of our deliverance from 
death and sin, which is done away by our being baptized with 
water into Christ. The Gospel and the second Lesson for the 

* Matt. xxi. 42. Acts iv. 11. 



230 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. v. 



evening give us the full evidence of Christ's resurrection ; and 
the Epistle and the second Lesson for the morning teach us 
what use we must make of it. 

The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are all very old : in the 
first book of king Edward they are appointed for the first com- 
munion ; for I have observed, 26 that upon the great feasts they 
had then two communions, and a distinct service at each. 
For the second communion they had the same Collect which 
we now use upon the first Sunday after Easter. The Epistle 
for that service was 1 Cor. v. 6, to ver. 9; the Gospel was 
Mark xvi. to ver. 9. 

Sect. XVIII. — Of the Monday and Tuesday in Easter- Weeh. 

Among the primitive Christians this queen of 
betw2n 0l Easter f easis i as those Fathers called it, was so highly 
and Whitsuntide esteemed, that it was solemnized fifty days to- 
s erved r ! y0b " gether, even from Easter to Whitsuntide ; 27 and 
this so strictly in the Spanish Church, that even 
the rogations were amongst them deferred by an order of 
council till Whitsuntide was over ; 28 during which whole time 
baptism was conferred, all fasts were suspended and counted 
unlawful, they prayed standing, (as they were wont to do every 
Lord's day in token of joy,) thereby making every one of 
those days in a manner equal to Sunday. As devotion abated, 
this feast was shortened; yet long after Tertullian, even to 
Gratian's time and downwards, the whole weeks of Easter and 
Whitsuntide were reckoned as holy-days. 29 And in our own 
Church, though she hath appointed Epistles and Gospels for 
the Monday and Tuesday only of this week, which contain 
full evidences of our Saviour's resurrection ; * yet she makes 
provision for the solemn observation of the whole week, by 
appointing a preface suitable to the season for eight days to- 
gether in the office of Communion. 

Easter-week, §• The occasion of this week's solemnity was 

why so solemnly principally intended for the expressing our joy 
for our Lord's resurrection. But among the an- 
cients there was another peculiar reason for the more solemn 

* Formerly three days were appointed as holy-days at Easter and Whitsuntide.s' and 
then it is probable that the Wednesday also had an Epistle and Gospel. 

23 Page 206. 27 Tert. de Jejuniis, c. 14, p. 552, B. De Idol. c. 14, p. 94, B. De 
Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Concil. Nicen. Can. 20, torn. ii. col. 37. 2B Concil. Gc- 

rundens, Can. 2. Strabo de Offic. Eceles. 1. 2, c. 34. & Gratian de Consecrat. Dist. 
3, c. 1, p. 2421. 30 See archbishop Islep's Constitution in Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiasti- 
cal Laws, and his note upon it, A. D. 1362, 3. 



sect, xviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



231 



observation of this week. For except in cases of necessity 
they administered baptism at no other times than Easter and 
"Whitsuntide ; at Easter, in memory of Christ's death and re- 
surrection, (correspondent to which are the two parts of the 
Christian life represented in baptism, dying unto sin, and ris- 
ing again unto newness of life ;) and at Whitsuntide, in me- 
mory of the Apostles being then baptized with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire, and of their having themselves at that time 
baptized three thousand souls; 31 this communication of the 
Holy Ghost to the Apostles being in some measure represented 
and conveyed by baptism. After these times, they made it 
part of their festivity the week following to congratulate the 
access of a new Christian progeny : the new-baptized coming 
each day to church in white garments, with lights before 
them, in token that they had now laid aside their works of 
darkness, and were become the children of light, and had 
made a resolution to lead a new, innocent, and unspotted life. 32 
At church, thanksgivings and prayers were made for them, and 
those that were at years of discretion (for in those times many 
such came in from heathenism) were instructed in the princi- 
ples and ways of Christianity : but afterwards, when most of 
the baptized were infants, and so not capable of such solemni- 
ties, this custom was altered, and baptism administered at all 
times of the year, as at the beginning of Christianity. 
§. 3. The first Lesson for Monday morning 33 „. T 

^ /-.-I, t it i- The Lessons. 

treats about (rod s sending the Israelites manna 
or bread from heaven, which was a type of our blessed Saviour, 
who was the bread of life that came down from heaven, of 
which whosoever eateth hath eternal life. The first Lesson 
for Monday evening 34 contains the history of the vanquishing 
the Amalekites, by the holding up of Moses's hands ; by which 
posture he put himself into the form of a cross, and exactly 
typified the victory which Christians obtain over their spiritual 
enemies by the cross of Christ. The smiting also of the rock, 
out of which came water, (mentioned in the same chapter,) is 
another type of our Saviour : for as the water flowing from 
the rock quenched the Israelites' thirst ; so our Saviour, smit- 
ten upon the cross, gave forth that living water, of which who- 
soever drinketh shall never thirst. 35 The second Lessons 36 
contain full testimonies of our Saviour's resurrection ; that for 



* l Acts v.. 41. 32 Ambr. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. iv. col. 348. 3:1 Exod. xvi. 
34 Exod. xvii. 35 1 Cor. x. 4. 3li Matt, xxviii. and Acts iii. 



232 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap, v. 



the morning giving an historical account of it ; the other for 
the evening containing a relation of a lame man being restored 
to Ills feet, through faith in the name of Christ, which was an 
undeniable proof that he was then alive. 

The first Lesson for Tuesday morning 37 contains the Ten 
Commandments, which were communicated to the people 
from God by the ministry of Moses, wherein he prefigured 
our Saviour, who was to be a prophet like unto him, 38 i. e. who 
was to bring down a new law from heaven, and more perfectly 
to reveal the divine will to man. The first Lesson at even- 
ing 39 represents Moses interceding with God for the children 
of Israel, for whom (rather than God should impute to them 
their sins) he desired even to die, and be blotted out of the 
book of life ; thereby also typifying Christ, who died and was 
made a curse for us} The second Lesson for the morning 41 
is a further evidence of our Saviour's resurrection ; and that for 
the evening 42 proves, by his resurrection, the necessity of ours. 

The Epistles and Gospels for these days are the same as in 
old offices ; but the Collect for Tuesday, till the last review, 
was what we now use on the Sunday after, being the same 
that in king Edward's first Common Prayer Book was ap- 
pointed for the second communion on Easter-day. 

Sect. XIX. — Of the Sundays after Easter. 

Upon the octave, or first Sunday after Easter- 
L ° W so l caned' Why day, was a custom of the ancients to repeat 
some part of the solemnity which was used upon 
Easter-day : from whence this Sunday took the name of Low- 
Sunday, being celebrated as a feast, though of a lower de- 
gree than Easter-day itself. In Latin it is called 
mScaS iiSt Dominica in Albis, or rather post Albas, (sc. de- 
positas,) as some ritualists call it, i. e. the Sun- 
day of putting off the chrysoms ; because those that were 
baptized on Easter-eve, on this day laid 'aside those white 
robes or chrysoms which were put upon them at their bap- 
tism, and which were now laid up in the churches, that they 
might be produced as evidences against them, if they should 
afterwards violate or deny that faith which they had professed 
in their baptism. And we may still observe, that the Epistle 
seems to be the remains of such a solemnity ; for it contains 

37 Exod. xx. 38 Deut. xviii. 15. 39 Exod. xxxii. « Gal. iii. 13. 
11 Luke xxiv. to ver. 13. 42 1 Cor. XV. 



sect, xx.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



233 



an exhortation to new-baptized persons, that are born of God, 
to labour to overcome the world, which at their baptism they 
had resolved to do. Both that and the Gospel were used 
very anciently upon this day : but in all the old books, ex- 
cept the first of king Edward, the Collect for Easter-day was 
ordered to be repeated ; but at the last review, the Collect 
prescribed in that first book was again inserted on this day ; 
it being the same which was originally appointed for the second 
communion on Easter-day itself, which was then also used on 
the Tuesday following. 

§. 2. As for the other Sundays after Easter, 
we have already observed, that they were all E^Ses^nd 
spent in joyful commemorations of our Saviour's Gospels 'for the 
resurrection, and the promise of the Comforter; Ste/lasterJ 8 
and accordingly we find, that both those grand 
occasions of joy and exultation are the principal subjects of 
all the Gospels from Easter to Whitsuntide. But, lest our joy 
should grow presumptuous and luxuriant, (joy being always 
apt to exceed,) the Epistles for the same time exhort us to 
the practice of such duties as are answerable to the profession 
of Christians ; admonishing us to believe in Christ, to rise from 
the death of sin, to he penitent, loving, meek, charitable, &c, 
having our blessed Lord himself for our example, and the 
promise of his Spirit for our strength, comfort, and guide. 

The Collect for the second Sunday was made new in 1549, 
and that for the fourth was corrected in the beginning of it* 
at the last review : but the other Collects are very old, as are 
all the Epistles and Gospels, which are very suitable to the 
season ; especially the Gospel for the fifth Sunday, which 
seems to be allotted to that day upon two accounts : first, be- 
cause it foretells our Saviour's ascension, which the Church 
commemorates on the Thursday following ; and, secondly, be- 
cause it is applicable to the rogations, which were performed 
on the three following days, of which therefore we shall sub- 
join a short account. 

Sect. XX. — Of the Rogation-days. 

About the middle of the fifth century, Ma- Rogation . daySr 
mercus, bishop of Vienne, upon the prospect of when first ob- ' 
some particular calamities that threatened his served - 

* The old beginning of it was, " Almighty God, which dost make the minds of aii 
faithful mea to be of one will, Grant," &c. 



234 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND Ichap. 



diocese, appointed that extraordinary prayers and supplica. 
tions should be offered up with fasting to God, for averting 
those impendent evils, upon the three days immediately pre- 
ceding the day of our Lord's ascension; 43 from which sup- 
plications (which the Greeks call Litanies, but 
An caJed. S ° tne Latins Rogations) these days have ever since 
been called Rogation-days. For some few years 
after, this example was followed by Sidonius, bishop of Cler- 
mont, (though he indeed hints that Mamercus was rather the 
restorer than the inventor of the rogations, 44 ) and in the be- 
ginning of the sixth century the first Council of Orleans ap- 
pointed that they should be yearly observed. 45 

§. 2. In these fasts the Church had a regard, 
thdrlnstitutioii. not on ty to prepare our minds to celebrate our 
Saviour's ascension after a devout manner ; but 
also, by fervent prayer and humiliation to appease God's 
wrath, and deprecate his displeasure, that so he might avert 
those judgments which the sins of the nation deserved ; that he 
might be pleased to bless the fruits with which the earth is at 
this time covered, and not pour upon us those scourges of his 
wrath, pestilence and war, which ordinarily begin in this season, 
why continued §• 3. At the Reformation, when all processions 
at the Reform- were abolished by reason of the abuse of them, 
yet for retaining the perambulation of the cir- 
cuits of parishes, it was ordered, " That the people shall once 
a year at the time accustomed, with the Curate and substan- 
tial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were 
accustomed, and at their return to church make their common 
prayers. Provided that the Curate, in the said common per- 
ambulations, used heretofore in the days of rogations, at cer- 
tain convenient places, shall admonish the people to give 
thanks to God, in the beholding of God's benefits, for the in- 
crease and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, 
with the saying of the hundred and fourth Psalm, Benedict, 
anima mea, kc. At which time also the same Minister shall 
inculcate this and such like sentences, Cursed be he which 
ti-anslateth the bounds and doles of his' neighbour, or such 
other order of prayer as shall be hereafter appointed." 46 No 

43 Aviti archiepiscopi Vien. A. D. 490. Homil. in Bibliotheca SS. Patrum. Paris. 
1575, torn. vii. col. 338. And from him Greg. Turonensis, 1. 2, c. 34, apud Histor. 
Francor. Scriptores, Paris. 1636. torn. i. p. 289, A. 44 Sidon. 1. 5, Ep. 14. 45 Con- 
cil. Aurel. Can. 27, torn. iv. col. 1408, D. E. 46 Injunction of queen Elizabeth, 18, 
19, in bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 73. 



sect, xxi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



235 



such prayers indeed have been since published ; but there is 
a homily appointed, which is divided into four parts ; the three 
first to be used upon the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 
and the fourth upon the day when the parish make their pro- 
cession. 

Sect. XXI. — Of Ascension-day. 
Forty davs after his resurrection, our blessed . . . 

~. . , Ascension-day. 

Saviour publicly ascended with our human nature 
into heaven, and presented it to God, who placed it at his 
own right hand, and by the reception of those first-fruits sanc- 
tified the whole race of mankind. As a thankful acknowledg- 
ment of which great and mysterious act of our redemption, 
the Church hath from the beginning of Christianity set apart 
this day for its commemoration ; 47 and for the greater solemn- 
ity of it, our Church in particular hath selected such peculiar 
offices as are suitable to the occasion ; as may be seen by a 
short view of the particulars. 

§. 2. Instead of the ordinary Psalms for the 
morning, are appointed the viiith, xvth, xxist; e sams ' 
and for the afternoon, the xxivth, xlviith, cviiith. The viiith 
Psalm was at first designed by David for the magnifying God 
for his wonderful creation of the world, and for bis goodness 
to mankind, in appointing him to be Lord of so great a work : 
but in a prophetical sense, it sets forth his more admirable 
mercy to men, in exalting our human nature above all crea- 
tures in the world, which was eminently completed in our 
Saviour's assumption of the flesh, and ascending with it to 
heaven, and reigning in it there. The xvth Psalm shews how 
justly our Saviour ascended the holy hill, the highest heavens, 
of which Mount Sion was a type : since he was the only per- 
son that had all the qualifications which that Psalm mentions, 
and which we must endeavour to attain, if ever we de- 
sire to follow him to those blessed mansions. The xxist, or 
last Psalm for the morning, was plainly fulfilled in our Sa- 
viour's ascension, when he put all his enemies to flight, and was 
exalted in his own strength, when he entered into everlasting 
felicity, and had a crown of pure gold set upon his head. 

The first Psalm for the evening service is the xxivth, com- 
posed by David upon the bringing the ark into the house 
which he had prepared for it in Mount Sion. And as that 

47 St. Chrysos. in Diem, Orat. 87, torn. v. p. 595. Const. Apost. 1. 5, c. 18. 



236 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS. AND 



[chap, r 



was a type of Christ's ascension into heaven, so is this Psalm 
a prophecy of that exaltation likewise, and alludes so very 
plainly to it, that Theodore says, it was actually sung at his 
ascension by a choir of angels that attended him. 48 The next 
is the xlviith, which was an exhortation to the Jews to bless God 
for his power and mercy in subduing the heathen nations about 
them ; but is mystically applied to the Christian Church, 
which it exhorts to rejoice and sing praise, because God is 
gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with the sound of 
the trump: who being now very high exalted, defends his 
Church as with a shield ; subduing his enemies, and Joining 
the princes of the people to his inlieritance. In the cviiith 
Psalm, the prophet awakens himself and his instruments of 
music to give thanks to God among the people, for setting 
himself above the heavens, and his glory above all the earth ; 
which was most literally fulfilled this day in his ascension 
into heaven, and sitting down at the right hand of God. 

The Lessons §' ^' ^ n ^ e nrst Lesson for the morning 49 
e essons. . g recorc j ec i Moses's going up to the mount to 

receive the law from God to deliver it to the Jews, whicli 
was the type of our Saviour's ascension into heaven, to send 
down a new law, the law of faith. The first Lesson at even- 
ing 50 contains the history of Elijah's being taken up into 
heaven, and of his conferring at that time a double portion 
of his spirit on Elisha ; which exactly prefigured our Saviour, 
who, after he was ascended, sent down the fulness of his 
Spirit upon his Apostles and disciples. The second Lessons 51 

are plainly suitable to the day ; as are also the 
C andGSpeL le ' Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, which are the same 

as we meet with in the oldest offices. 

Sect. XXII. — Of the Sunday after Ascension-day. 

Expectation- During this week the Apostles continued in 
week, why so earnest prayer and expectation of the Comforter, 
called. whom our Saviour had promised to send them, 

from whence it is sometimes called Expectation-week. The 
The Collect Collect for this day was a little altered at the 
Epistle, and Reformation, but the Epistle and Gospel are the 

Gospel. game tbat were usec f Q £ rpj^ Q QS p e l con _ 

tains the promise of the Comforter, who is the Spirit of 

48 In Psalm xxiv. 49 Deut. x. 50 2 Kings ii. 

31 Luke xxiv. 44, and Eph. iv. to ver. 1 7. 



sect, xxiii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



237 



truth ; and the Epistle exhorts every one to make such use 
of those gifts which the Holy Spirit shall bestow upon them, 
as becomes good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 

Sect. XXIII.— Of Whit-Sunday. 

The feast of Pentecost was of great eminency 
among the Jews, in memory of the Law's being ancient U fesUvaL 
delivered on Mount Sinai at that time ; and of 
no less note among the Christians, for the Holy Ghost's de- 
scending the very same day upon the Apostles and other 
Christians in the visible appearance of fiery tongues, and of 
those miraculous powers that were then conferred upon them. 
It was observed with the same respect to Easter, as the Jewish 
Pentecost was to their Passover, viz. (as the word imports) 
just fifty days afterwards. Some conclude, from St. Paul's 
earnest desire of being at Jerusalem at this time, 52 that the 
observation of it as a Christian festival is as old as the Apos- 
tles : but whatever St. Paul's design was, we are assured that 
it hath been universally observed from the very first ages of 
Christianity. 53 

§. 2. It was styled Whit-Sunday, partly be- wh soca iied 
cause of those vast diffusions of light and know- y soca e • 
ledge which were then shed upon the Apostles in order to the 
enlightening of the world ; but principally from the white 
garments, which they that were baptized at this time put on, 
of which we have already given a particular account. 54 Though 
Mr. Hamon L'Estrange conjectures that it is derived from 
the French word huict, which signifies eight, and then Whit- 
Sunday will be Huict-Sunday, i. e. the Eighth Sunday, viz. 
from Easter : and to make his opinion the more probable, he 
observes, that the octave of any feast is in the Latin called 
utas, which he derives from the French word huictas. 55 In a 
Latin letter I have by me of the famous Gerard Langbain, I 
find another account of the original of this word, which he 
says he met with accidentally in a Bodleian Manuscript. He 
observes from thence, that it was a custom among our ances- 
tors upon this day, to give all the milk of their ewes and kine 
to the poor for the love of God, in order to qualify themselves 
to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : which milk being then 

52 Acts xx. 16. M Vid. Just. Mart. Qusest. et Respons. ad Orthodox. 115. Tert. de 
Idol. c. 14, p. 94, B. De Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Orig. adv. Cels. 1. 8, par. 2, p. 522, 
L. in Numer. 31. Horn. 25, par. 1, p. 169, A. " Sect, xviii. §. 2, and sect. xix. §. 1. 

See his Annotations upon Whit-Sunday, in his Alliance of Divine Offices. 



238 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 



(as it is still in some counties) called white meat, &c, therefore 
this day from that custom took the name of Whit-Sunday. * 
The Psalms §' ^' P r0 P er Psalms for the morning ser- 
vice are Psalms xlviii. lxviii. The xlviiith is an 
hymn in honour of Jerusalem, as particularly chosen for the 
place of God's worship, and for that reason defended by his 
more immediate care from all invasions of enemies. It is also 
a form of thanksgiving to God for his mercy, in permitting 
men to meet in his solemn service, and so in the mystical 
sense is an acknowledgment of his glorious mercies afforded 
to the Church of Christians under the Gospel, and conse- 
quently very suitable to this day, whereon we commemorate 
the greatest mercy that ever was vouchsafed to any Church 
in the world, viz. the immediate inspiration of the Apostles 
by the Holy Ghost, at which all that saw it marvelled ; and 
though many that were astonished were cast down, yet 
through the assistance of the same Spirit the Church was 
that very day augmented by the access of three thousand 
souls. 56 The other Psalm for the morning is the lxviiith, 
sung at first in commemoration of the great deliverance af- 
forded to the Israelites, and of the judgments inflicted on 
their enemies ; and contains a prophetical description of the 
ascension of Christ, who went up on high, and led captivity 
captive, and received gifts for men ; which benefits he soon 
after, as on this day, poured upon the Apostles, at which time 

* The letter I have is in manuscript, but seems to be a transcript of a printed letter 
of Langbain, dated from Oxford on Whitsun-eve, 1650, and writ in answer to a friend 
that had inquired of him the original of the word Whitsuntide ; in which, after he had 
hinted at some other opinions, he gives the above-mentioned account in the following 
words : " Sed cum ex variantibus Vulgi Sermonibus nihil certi hac in re pronunciari 
possit, necesse est uevuuev onep eap.ev ; atque adhuc liberum cuivis conjectandi relin- 
quatur arbitrium. Licebit ideo quod (dum in Bodleiand nostra omne genus Manu- 
scriptos Codices pervolvo) casu mihi obvenerit, hie subjicere. Extat illic MS. hoc titulo, 
de Solennitatibus Sanctorum feriandis. Author est anonymus, qui de Festo Pente- 
costes agens, haechabet: ' Judasi quatuor praecipua celebrant Solemnia ; Pascha, Pente- 
costen, Scenopegiam, Encaenia. Nos autem duo de illis celebramus, Pascha et Pente- 
costen, sed alia ratione. Illi celebrant Pentecosten, quia tunc Legem perceperunt : 
nos autem ideo, quia tunc Spiritus Sanctus missus est Discipulis. Illi susceperunt 
Tabulis lapideis extrinsecus scripta ad designandam eorum duritiem, quoniam usque 
spiritualem intellectum literas non pertingebant : Sed Spiritus Sanctus datus est sep- 
tuaginta duobus Discipulis in corde, digito Dei spiritualem intellectum intus dedicante. 
Ideoque Dies intellectus dicitur JVitsonenday, vel item Vitsonenday ; quia Praedeces 
sores nostri omne Lac Ovium et Vaccarum suarum solebant dare pauperibus illo die, 
pro Dei amore, ut puriores efficerentur ad recipiendum donum Spiritus Sancti.' Quo- 
rum, fere ad Verbum, consentit Manuscriptus alter hoc titulo, Doctrina quomodo 
Curatus possit Sanctorum vitas per annum populo denunciare. Et certe quod de Lacte 
Vaccarum refert, illud percognitum habeo in agro Hamtoniensi (an et alibi nescio) 
decimas Lacticiniorum venire vulgo sub hoc nomine, The Whites of Kine ; apud Lei- 
cestrenses etiam Lacticinia vulgariter dicuntur JVhitemeat." 

" Acts ii. 41. 



sect, xxiv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



239 



the earth shook, and the heavens dropped at the presence of 
God who sent (as it were) a gracious rain upon his inherit- 
ance, and refreshed it when it was weary ; and when the 
Lord gave the word, great was the company of the preachers. 

The Psalms for the evening are Psalms civ. cxlv. The 
civth is an elegant and pious meditation on the power and 
wisdom of God, in making and preserving all the creatures 
of the world. It is used on this day, because some verses are 
very applicable to the subject of it : for we herein celebrate 
the miraculous works of the Holy Ghost, who made the clouds 
his chariot, and walked upon the wings of the wind : the 
earth, at first, trembled at the look of him ; but it was after- 
wards renewed by his breath, and filled with the fruits of his 
works. The cxlvth Psalm is a form of solemn thanksgiving 
to God, descanting on all his glorious attributes, very proper 
for this day, whereon we declare the power of the third Per- 
son of the glorious Trinity, and talk of his worship, his glory, 
his praise and wondrous works ; we speak of the might of 
his marvellous acts, and tell of his greatness. 

§. 4. The first Lesson for the morning 57 con- The Lessons 
tains the law of the Jewish Pentecost, or Feast Epistle, and ' 
of JVeeks, which was a type of ours : for as the Gospel - 
law was at this time given to the Jews from Mount Sinai, so 
also the Christians upon this day received the new evangelical 
law from heaven, by the administration of the Holy Ghost. 
The first Lesson for the evening 58 is a prophecy of the con- 
version of the Gentiles to the kingdom of Christ, through 
the inspiration of the Apostles by the Spirit of God ; the 
completion of which prophecy is recorded in both the second 
Lessons, 59 but especially in the portion of Scripture for the 
Epistle, which contains a particular description of the first 
wonderful descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, who 
were assembled together in one place, in expectation of that 
blessed Spirit, according to the promise of our Saviour men- 
tioned in the Gospel, which, together with the Collect and 
Epistle, were taken from the old Liturgies. 

Sect. XXIV. — Of the Monday and Tuesday in Wliitsun-week. 

The Whitsun-week was not entirely festival whitsun-week 
like that of Easter ; the Wednesday, Thursday, how formerly ' 
and Friday being observed as fasts, and days of observed - 

67 Deut. xvi. to ver. 18. 68 Isaiah xi. ™ Acts x. ver. 34, and chap. xix. tover. 21. 



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OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP. v. 



humiliation and supplication for a blessing upon the work of 
ordination, (which was usually on the next Sunday,) in imita- 
tion of the apostolical practice mentioned Acts xiii. 3. 60 But 
the Monday and Tuesday were observed after the same man- 
ner and for the same reasons as in the Easter-week : * so that 
what has been said concerning the observation of them, may 
suffice for these ; wherefore I shall forbear all repetitions, and 
proceed immediately to their proper services. 
The collects §• ^' ^he Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 

Epistles, and both these days are ancient: both the Epistles 
Gospels. are concernm g the baptism of converts, (this 

being, as we have already noted, one of the more solemn times 
appointed for baptism,) and concerning their receiving of the 
Holy Ghost by the hands of the Apostles, (this being also a 
time for confirmation, which was always performed by the 
imposition of hands.) The Gospel for Monday seems to 
have been allotted for the instruction of the new-baptized ; 
teaching them to believe in Christ, and to become the chil- 
dren of light. The Gospel for Tuesday seems to be appoint- 
ed, as it is one of the ember or ordination weeks ; the design 
of it being to put a difference between those who are lawfully 
appointed and ordained to the ministry, and those who without 
any commission arrogate to themselves that sacred office. 
The Lessons §* ^' ^ e ^ rst Lesson for Monday morning 62 
is a history of the confusion of tongues at Babel, 
whereby the Church reminds us, that as the confusion of 
tongues spread idolatry through the world, and made men 
lose the knowledge of God and true religion ; so God pro- 
vided by the gift of tongues to repair the knowledge of him- 
self, and lay the foundation of a new religion. In the first 
Lesson for Monday evening 63 is recorded the resting of God's 
Spirit upon the seventy elders of Israel, to enable them to ease 
Moses of part of his burden in governing that numerous peo- 
ple ; which exactly prefigured the descent of the same Holy 
Spirit at this time upon the Apostles and others, to the same 
end, viz. that the care of all the churches might not lie upon 
one single person : and accordingly the second Lessons for 
this day 64 instruct us that these spiritual gifts, of whatever sort 
they be, are all given to profit withal, and therefore must 

* The Wednesday was also observed formerly in England as a festival. 61 
60 Athanas. Apolog. de Fuga sua, §. 6, torn. i. p. 323, C Concil. Gerund. Can. 2, torn, 
iv. col. 1568, A. 61 See Mr. Johnson, as cited in pages 195, 225. & Gen. xi. to 
7ur. 10. 63 Numb. xi. ver. 16. 64 1 Cor. xii. and chap. xiv. 26. 



bect. xxv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 241 

be all made use of to edification, as to their true and pro- 
per end. 

The first Lesson for Tuesday morning 65 contains the in - 
spiration of Saul and his messengers by the Spirit of God ; and 
that at evening 66 is a prophecy of Moses, how God would in 
after- times deal with the Jews upon their repentance. The 
morning second Lesson 67 forbids us to quench the Spirit of 
God, or to despise the prophecies, uttered by it : but because 
there are many false prophets gone into the world, the second 
Lesson for the afternoon 63 warns us not to believe all teach- 
ers who boast of the Spirit, but to try them by the rules of the 
catholic faith. 

Sect. XXV.— Of Trinity Sunday. 

In all the ancient Liturgies we find that this 
day was looked upon only as an octave of Pente- 0f ho d w at a j; dellt 
cost ; the observation of it as the feast of the 
Trinity being of a later date : for since the praises of the 
Trinity were every day celebrated in the doxology, hymns, 
and creeds ; therefore the Church thought there was no need 
to set apart one particular day for that which was done on 
each. 69 But afterwards when the Arians, and such like here- 
tics, were spread over the world, and had vented their blas- 
phemies against this divine mystery, the wisdom of the 
Church thought it convenient, that though the blessed Trinity 
was daily commemorated in its public offices of devotion, yet 
it should be the more solemn subject of one particular day's 
meditation. So that from the time of pope Alexander III,, if 
not before, the festival of the holy Trinity was observed in 
some Churches on the Sunday after Pentecost, in others on 
the Sunday next before Advent. Until in the year 1305, it 
was made an established feast, as it stands in our present ca- 
lendar, by Benedict XIII. 70 

§. 2. The reason why this day was chosen as Whyobserved 
most seasonable for this solemnity, was because the Sunday after 
our Lord had no sooner ascended into heaven, Whlt " Sunda y- 
and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Church, but there 
ensued the full knowledge of the glorious and incomprehensi- 
ble Trinity, which before that time was not so clearly known. 

65 1 Sam. xix. ver. 18. 66 Deut. xxx. 07 \ Thess. v. ver. 12, to ver. 24. 
?8 l John iv. to ver. 14. go Decretal. Greg. ix. 1. 2, tit. 9, c. 2, col. 596. Paris. 1601. 
'*> See Alexander's Decretal. 1. 2, tit. 9, c. 2, as cited by Mr. Johnson in his Ecclesi- 
astical Laws, A. D. 1268, 35. Though I suppose for 1305, Mr. Johnson meant 1405, for 
Benedict XIII. was not chosen pope till 1394. 



242 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAr. 



The Church therefore having dedicated the foregoing solemn 
festivals to the honour of each several person by himself, 
thereby celebrating the Unity in Trinity ; it was thought 
highly seasonable to conclude those solemnities, by adding to 
them one festival more to the honour and glory of the whole 
Trinity together, therein celebrating the Trinity in Unity. 
But in the Greek Church, the Monday in Whitsun-week is 
set apart for this purpose, the Sunday following being with 
them the festival of All-Saints. 71 

The Lessons §' ^' m y stei 7 was not c ^ ear b r delivered to 
ne essons. ^ e j eW s, because they, being always surrounded 
by idolatrous nations, would have easily mistaken it for a doc- 
trine of plurality of Gods : but yet it was not so much hidden 
in those times, but that any one with a spiritual eye might 
have discerned some glimmerings of it dispersed through the 
Old Testament. The first chapter in the Bible seems to set 
forth three Persons in the Godhead ; for besides the Spirit 
of God which moved upon the waters, ver. 2, we find the 
great Creator (at the 26th verse) consulting with others about 
the greatest work of his creation, the making of man, of which 
we may be assured the Word or Son of God was one, since 
all tilings were made by him, and without him was not Gr- 
illing made that was made? 2 So that those two verses fully 
pointing out to us the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, make 
this a very proper Lesson for the solemnity of the day. The 
reason of the choice of the other first Lesson is as obvious :' 
it records the appearance of the great Jehovah to Abraham, 
whom the patriarch acknowledges to be the Judge of all the 
earth ,• and who therefore, by vouchsafing to appear with two 
others in his company, might design to represent to him the 
Trinity of J?ersons. But this sacred mystery is no where so 
plainly manifested as in the second Lesson for the morning." 4 
which at one and the same time relates the baptism of the 
Son, the voice of the Father, and the descent of the Holv 
Ghost : which though they are (as appears from this chapter' 
three distinct Persons in number, yet the second Lesson at 
evening 75 shews they are but one in essence. 

§. 4. The Epistle and Gospel are the same 
Epistle and Gos- t ^ at j n anc i en t services were assigned for the oc- 
tave of Whit-Sunday : the Gospel especially seems 
to be very proper to the season, as being the last day of the 

' 71 Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 34. « John i. 3. 73 Genesis Tvia 
T * Matthew iii. 75 1 John v. 



sect, xxvi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 24,5 

more solemn time of baptism : though they are neither of 
them improper to the day, as it is Trinity Sunday : for in both 
the Epistle and Gospel are mentioned the three Persons of the 
blessed Trinity : and that noted hymn of the angels in heaven, 
mentioned in the portion of Scripture appointed for the Epis- 
tle, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, seems of itself to 
be a sufficient manifestation of three Persons, and but one God. 
The Collect is plainly adapted to this day, as it is Trinity Sun- 
day ; though this too is the same as in the office of Sarum. 

Sect. XXYI. — Of the Sundays from Trinity Sunday to Advent. 
In the annual course of the Gospels for Sun- T1 n , . 

. * J he Gospels lor 

days and holy-days, the chief matter and sub- the Sundays after 
stance of the four Evangelists is collected in Tnmty ' 
such order as the Church thinks most convenient to make the 
deepest impression upon the congregation. The whole time 
from Advent to Trinity Sunday is chiefly taken up in com- 
memorating the principal acts of Providence in the great work 
of our redemption ; and therefore such portions of Scripture 
are appointed to be read, as are thought most suitable to the 
several solemnities, and most likely to enlighten our under- 
standing, and confirm our faith in the mysteries we celebrate. 
But from Trinity Sunday to Advent, the Gospels are not chosen 
as peculiarly proper to this or that Sunday, (for that could 
only be observed in the greater festivals,) but such passages 
are selected out of the Evangelists as are proper for our medi- 
tation at all times, and may singularly conduce to the making 
us good Christians : such as are the holy doctrine, deeds, and 
miracles of the blessed Jesus, who always went about doing 
good, and whom the Church always proposes to our imitation. 

§. 2. The Epistles tend to the same end, being 
frequent exhortations to an uninterrupted prac- aleSundaysaftar 
tice of all Christian virtues : they are all of them ^™} ty in se ~ 
taken out of St. Paul's Epistles, and observe the nera ' 
very order both of Epistles and chapters in which they stand 
in the New Testament, except those for the five first Sundays, 
that for the eighteenth, and the last for the twenty-fifth. 

Those for the five first Sundays are all (except 
that for the fourth) taken out of St. John and St. FoT £^£^? TS% 
Peter ; for which reason they are placed first, that 
they might not afterwards interrupt the order of those taken 
out of St. Paul. 

r 2 



244 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. 



For the variation of the Epistle for the eigh- 
teenth Sunday, teenth Sunday another reason may be given, which 

is this : It was an ancient custom of the Church 
in the Ember-weeks, to have proper services on the Wednes- 
days and Fridays, but especially on the Saturdays ; when, after 
a long continuance in prayer and fasting, they performed the 
solemnities of the Ordination either late on Saturday evening, 
(which was then always looked upon as part of the Lord's day,) 
or else early on the morning following ; for which reason, and 
because they might be wearied with their prayers and fasting 
on the Saturdays, the Sundays following had no public services, 

but were called Dominicce vacantes, i. e. vacant 
whenclsoJSdl Sundays. But afterwards, when they thought it 

not convenient to let a Sunday pass without any 
solemn service, they despatched the Ordination sooner on Sa- 
turdays, and performed the solemn service of the Church as 
at other times on the Sundays. But these Sundays, having 
no particular service of their own, for some time borrowed of 
some other days, till they had proper ones fixed pertinent to 
the occasion. So that this eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 
often happening to be one of these vacant Sundays, had at the 
same time a particular Epistle and Gospel allotted to it, in 
some measure suitable to the solemnity of the time. For the 
Epistle hints at the necessity there is of spiritual teachers, and 
mentions such qualifications as are specially requisite to those 
that are ordained, as the being enriched with all utterance, 
and in all knowledge, and being behind in no good gift. The 
Gospel treats of our Saviour's silencing the most learned of the 
Jews by his questions and answers ; thereby also shewing how 
his ministers ought to be qualified, viz. able to speak a word 
in due season, to give a reason of their faith, and to convince, 
or at least to confute, all those that are of heterodox opinions. 

The last Sunday, whose Epistle varies from the 
F fifthsSy?" order of the . rest > is the twenty-fifth, for which 

the reason is manifest : for this Sunday being 
looked upon as a kind of preparation or forerunner to Advent, 
as Advent is to Christmas, an Epistle was chosen, not accord- 
ing to the former method, but such a one as so clearly fore- 
told the coming of our Saviour, that it was afterwards applied 
to him by the common people, as appears by an instance men- 
tioned in the Gospel for the same day ; for when they saw the 
miracle that Jesus did, they said, TJiis is of a truth that Pro- 



sacT. xxvi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



215 



phet that should come into the world. And it was probably 
for the sake of this text, that this portion of Scripture (which 
has before been appointed for the Gospel on the fourth Sun- 
day in Lent) is here repeated ; viz. because they thought this 
inference of the multitude a fit preparation for the approach- 
ing season of Advent : for which reason, in the rubric follow- 
ing this Gospel, we see it is ordered, (according to an old 
rule of Micrologus, an ancient ritualist,) that if there are 
either more or fewer Sundays between Trinity Sunday 
and Advent, the services must be so ordered, that this last 
Collect, Epistle, and Gospel be always used upon the Sun- 
day next before Advent ,•* i. e. if there be fewer Sundays, the 
overplus is to be omitted : but if there be more, the service 
of some of those Sundays, that were omitted after the Epiph- 
any, are to be taken in to supply so many as are wanting ; 
but which of those services the rubric does not say. And for 
that reason there is generally a diversity in the practice : some 
reading on those occasions the services next in course to 
what had been used at the Epiphany before ; and others, at 
the same time, reading the last, or two last, accordingly as one 
or both of them are wanting. The last of these practices I 
think to be preferable : partly upon the account, that when 
there is an overplus of Sundays after Trinity one year, there 
is generally a pretty full number after Epiphany the next ; so 
that if any of the services for the early Sundays after Epiph- 
any are taken in to supply those that are wanting after Trinity, 
the same services will come in turn to be read again pretty 
soon : but the chief reason why I think the latter services 
should be used, is, because the service that is appointed for 
the last Sunday after Epiphany, is a more suitable preparation 
for the season that is approaching, and makes way for the 
service for the last Sunday after Trinity, as that does for the 
services appointed for Advent. 

§. 3. All the Collects for these Sundays, to- The Collects 
gether with the Epistles and Gospels, are taken 

* There was nothing of this rubric in the Common Prayer Book of 1549. And in all 
the other old hooks, except the Scotch, it was only this : " If there be any more Sun- 
days before Advent Sunday, to supply the same shall be taken the service of some of 
those Sundays that were omitted between the Epiphany and Septuagesima." To this, 
in the Scotch Liturgy, was added further as follows : " but the same shall follow the 
twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity. And if there be fewer Sundays than twenty-five 
before Advent, then shall the twenty-third or twenty-fourth, or both, be omitted : so 
that the twenty-fifth shall never either alter or be left out, but be always used immedi- 
ately before Advent-Sunday, to which the Epistle und Gct«cl of that do expressly relate." 



246 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND 



[CHAP. v. 



out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, excepting that some 
of the Collects were a little corrected and smoothed at the last 
review. I do not think it necessary to trouble the reader with 
the variations that only amend the expression : but those that 
make any alteration in the sense, he may perhaps desire to 
have in the margin.* 

Sect. XXVII. — Of the Immovable Feasts in general. 

These festivals are all of them fixed to set days, 
themselves in and so could not be conveniently placed among 
the common those we have already treated of, because (they 

Prayer Book. . „ J 1 . V J 

having all ot them, except those from Ohristmas- 
day to Epiphany, a dependence upon Easter, which varies 
every year) they happen sometimes sooner, and sometimes 
later. So that if the movable and immovable had been placed 
together, it must of necessity have caused a confusion of the 
order which they ought to be placed in; for prevention of 
which, the fixed holy-days are placed by themselves, in the 
same order in which they stand in the calendar. 

§. 2. They are most of them set apart in com- 
^appoSfted? memoration of the Apostles and first martyrs ; 

concerning the reason and manner of which so- 
lemnity, I have already spoken in general, page 189, &c, which 
may suffice without descending to particulars : so that now I 
shall only make a few observations on some of them, which 
may not perhaps seem wholly impertinent. 

* In all former Common Prayer Books, the Collects for the following Sundays -were 
expressed as follows. 

For the second Sunday: " Lord, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy 
holy name : for thou never failest to help and. govern them whom thou dost bring up 
in thy stedfast love : Grant this," &c. 

In that for the third, the words, " and comforted in all danger and adversities," were 
added in the last review. 

The Collect for the eighth began thus : " God, whose providence is never deceived, 
we humbly beseech thee," &c, as in our present Liturgy. 

In that for the ninth, " that we, which cannot be without thee, may by thee be able 
to live," &c. 

In that for the eleventh, " Give unto us abundantly thy grace, that we running to 
thy promises, may be made partakers," &c. 

On the twelfth it ended thus : " and giving us that, that our prayer dare not pre- 
sume to ask, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

In the Collect for the fifteenth, the words, "from all things hurtful," were added 
in 1661. 

In the sixteenth, the word " Congregation " was changed for " Church." 

The beginning of the eighteenth was thus : " Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy peo- 
ple grace to avoid the infections of the Devil, and with pure hearts," &c. 

In the nineteenth, " Grant that the working of thy mercy n^ay in all things," &*c. 

In the twentieth, instead of "may cheerfully" it was formerly "may with free hearts, 
&c. And 

In the twenty-fourth, instead of " absolve " it was formerly " assoil." 



si xxviit.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



247 



Sect. XXVIII. — Particular Observations on some of the 
Immovable Feasts. 

Concerning St. Andrew we may observe, that st . Andrew > s day, 
as he was the first that found the Messiah, 76 and why observed 
the first that brought others to him, 77 so the Lrst ' 
Church, for his greater honour, commemorates him first in 
her anniversary course of holy-days, and places his festival at 
the beginning of Advent, as the most proper to bring the news 
of our Saviour's coming. 

§. 2. St. Thomas's day seems to be placed st . Thomas> , vhy 
next, not because he was the second that be- commemorated 
lieved Jesus to be the Messiah, but the last that next ' 
believed his resurrection : which though he was at first the 
most doubtful, yet he had afterwards the greatest evidence ot 
its truth ; which the Church recommends to our meditation at 
this season, as a fit preparative to our Lord's Nativity. Tor 
unless we believe with St. Thomas, that the same Jesus, whose 
birth we immediately afterwards commemorate, is the very 
Christ, our Lord and our God ,• neither his birth, death, nor 
resurrection will avail us any thing. 

§. 3. St. Paul is not commemorated as the pau] 
other Apostles are, by his death or martyrdom ; commemorated 
but by his conversion; because as it was won- Jy Jj is conver - 
derful in itself, so it was highly beneficial to the 
Church of Christ. For while other Apostles had their par- 
ticular provinces, he had the care of all the churches •• and by 
his indefatigable labours contributed very much to the propa- 
gation of the Gospel throughout the worid. 

§. 4. Whereas some churches keep four holy- The Purificat : on 
days in memory of the blessed Virgin, viz. the and Anmmcia- 
Nativity, the Annunciation, the Purification, and tlon " 
the Assumption ; our Church keeps only two, viz. the An- 
nunciation and Purification ; which, though they may have 
some relation to the blessed Virgin, do yet more peculiarly 
belong to our Saviour. The Annunciation hath a peculiar re- 
spect to his Incarnation, who being the eternal Word of the 
Father, was at this time made flesh : the Purification is prin- 
cipally observed in memory of our Lord's being made mani- 
fest in the flesh, when he was presented in the temple. 

On the Purification the ancient Christians used abundance 



« John i. S3. 



n Verse 42 



248 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap, v 



of lights both in their churches and processions, 
Sheice^ctued. in remembrance (as it is supposed) of our bless- 
ed Saviour's being this day declared by old Si- 
meon to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, &c, which portion 
of Scripture is for that reason appointed for the Gospel for 
the day. A practice continued with us in England till the 
second year of king Edward VI., when bishop Cranmer forbad 
it by order of the Privy Council. 78 And from this custom I 
suppose it was, that this day first took the name of Candle- 
mas-day. 

st. Matthias's §' 5 ' St * Matthi a s ' s day being generally dif- 
day, on what day ferently observed in leap-years, viz. by some on 
feap-yeu?^ the twenty-fourth, and by others on the twenty- 
fifth of February ; I think it not amiss to state 
the case in as few words as I can. And to do it clearly, I 
must begin with the ancient Julian year, which is known to 
have consisted of three hundred sixty-five days and almost 
six hours : but because of the inconvenience of inserting six 
hours at the end of every year, they were ordered to be re- 
served to the end of four years, when they came to a whole 
day, and then to be inserted at the twenty-fourth of February. 
For the old Roman year ended at February the twenty-third, 
and the old intercalary month was always inserted at that 
time.* And because the intercalary days (according to the 
method of the Egyptians) were never accounted any part of 
the month or year, but only an appendix to them, 80 therefore 
the Romans in the Julian year accounted the twenty-third 
day of February, i. e. the sixth of the calends of March, two 
days together, which is the reason that in our calendar, leap- 
Leap-year, y ear ^ s called Bissextile, or the year in which 
whence called the sixth of the calends of March came twice 
Bissextile. over . Now we in England having been very an- 
ciently subjects of the Roman empire, received the Julian 
account ; and agreeable to the method of the Romans, our 
parliament, in the twenty-first year of king Henry III., A. D. 
1236, passed an act, that in every leap-year the additional day, 
and the day next going before, should be accounted but for 

* This shews Mr. Johnson's mistake in correcting Dr. Wallis for affirming the 
twenty-fourth to be the intercalary day. For certainly the day which follows the 
twenty-third, if counted for any day, must be called the twenty-fourth. 79 

78 Collier's History, vol. ii. page 241. 79 Addenda to the Clergyman's Vade Me- 
cum, at the end of his two cases, pages 108, 109. 80 Cato in Tit. Dig. §. 98, expressly 
says of the practice of the Romans, Mensem intercalarem addititium esse, omnesque 
ejus dies pro momento temporis observandos. 



sect, xxviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



249 



one day. Now the additional day being inserted, as I have 
observed, between the sixth and seventh of the calends of 
March, i. e. between the twenty-fourth and twenty-third day 
of February;* it follows, that, according to the Roman way 
of reckoning, (who reckoned the calends backwards from the 
first day of the month,) the day which, in our way of reckoning, 
was in ordinary years the twenty-fourth of February, would 
in leap-years be the twenty-fifth. And consequently St. Mat- 
thias being fixed on that day, which in ordinary years was the 
twenty-fourth, must in every leap-year be observed upon 
what in our account we call the twenty-fifth ; though in the 
Eoman way of reckoning both in common years and leap- 
years, it is kept the same day, viz. the sixth day inclusive 
before the first day of March. And this is according to the 
known rule, as old as Durand's time at least. 

Bissextum Sextoe Martis tenuere Calendar : 
Posteriore Die celebrantur Festa Mathiae. 

And agreeable to this rule stood the rubric in relation to the 
intercalary day, in all the Missals, Breviaries, &c. to the Re- 
formation, directing also that in leap-years, St. Matthias's 
day should be always kept upon the twenty-fifth of Fe- 
bruary, which is still the order and practice in the Church of 
Rome. But in both the Common Prayer Books of king Ed- 
ward VI. that old rubric was altered, and the following one 
put in its room. 

* Here again Mr. Johnson endeavours to correct Dr. Wallis, when he himself is 
mistaken. His words are these : " Dr. Wallis says, that the intercalary day is between 
the sixth and seventh calends of March. He certainly meant between the sixth and 
fifth. It is absurd to suppose that the first six calends, which is February the twenty- 
fourth, should be Bisseztus, and the twenty-fifth simply Sextus. Primo Sextus must 
of necessity precede Bissextus. And Bissextus is but another word for the intercalary 
day. The mistake seems to have arisen from the Doctor's forgetting that the compu- 
tation of the calends is retrogradous." sl I desire Mr. Johnson to think again, and then 
to recollect who it is that is forgetful of this retrograde computation. He rightly in- 
deed observes that Primo Sextus must of necessity precede Bissextus : but which, I 
would ask, is the Primo Sext-us ? that which stands next to the fifth of the calends, or 
that which stands a day further off? Now the fifth calend of March being February 
the twenty-fifth, and the calends being to be computed in a backward order, (as Mr. 
Johnson well observes,) I would ask again, whether February the twenty-fourth is not 
the Primo Sextus? and consequently whether the day before that (i. e. in order of time) 
be not the Bissextus or intercalary day ; and whether the intercalary day be not (as 
Dr. Wallis asserts) between the sixth and seventh calends of March, or between the 
twenty -fourth and twenty -third of February, though indeed, as we now reckon, it can- 
not be called any other than the twenty-fourth ? So that queen Elizabeth's reformers 
were not mistaken in thinking the twenty-fourth the intercalary day, as Mr. Johnson 
•asserts. And therefore he himself must lay claim to the excuse he has made in the 
same page for Dr. Wailis, who now, it seems, has no need of it, viz. that " the hap- 
piest memories, with the greatest knowledge, cannot secure men against such lapses." 
s 1 Addenda to the Clergyman's Vade Mecum, at ihe end of his two cases, pages 103, 109. 



250 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DA i S, AND [chap. v. 

This is also to be noted, concerning the leap-years, that the 
twenty -fifth day of February, which in leap-years is counted 
for two days, shall in those two days alter neither Psalm nor 
Lesso?i : but the same Psalms and Lessons which be said the 
first day shall serve also for the second day. 

This Dr. Nichols and others think to be a mistake in our re- 
formers ; and that they were not apprized which was properly 
the intercalary day : but I cannot imagine so many great men 
to be ignorant both of the rubrics and practice of their own 
Church. I therefore suppose that this alteration was made 
with design, that there might be no confusion in the observa- 
tion of the holy-day ; but that it should be kept on the twenty- 
fourth in leap-years as well as others. However, when queen 
Elizabeth's Common Prayer was compiled, it was thought 
proper to return to the old practice and rule ; and accordingly 
in that book the rubric was thus altered. 

When the years of our Lord (i. e. when the number of 
years from the birth of Christ) may be divided into four even 
parts, which is every fourth year, then the Sunday letter leap- 
eth ; * and that year the Psalms and Lessons, which serve for 
the twenty-third day of February, shall be read again the 
day following, except it be Sunday, which hath proper Les- 
sons from the Old Testament appointed in the table to serve 
to that purpose. 

Now according to this rubric St. Matthias's day must again 
be kept in leap-years, as it used to be, viz. not on the twenty- 
fourth day of February, which was looked upon in this rubric 
to be the intercalary day ; but on the day following, which we 
call the twenty-fifth. For if the Lessons for the twenty-third 
were also to be read upon the twenty-fourth in leap-years, 
then that day could not be St. Matthias. For the first Les- 
sons appointed for St. Matthias were Wisdom xix. and Ecclus. 
i., whereas the first Lessons for the twenty-third of February 
were at that time the ivth and vth of Deuteronomy. And thus 
stood the rubric till the restoration of king Charles ; when the 
revisers of our Liturgy observing, I suppose, that the twenty- 
ninth of February was in our civil computation generally 
looked upon as the intercalary day ; they thought that it 
would be more uniform, and that it would prevent more mis- 
takes in the reading of the Common Prayer, to make it so also 
in the ecclesiastical computation. For which reason the afore- 

* Hence every such fourth year receives the name of Leap-year. 



sect, xxvill.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



251 



said rubric was then left out, and a twenty-ninth day added to 
February, which has Lessons of its own appointed, and till 
which day the Sunday or Dominical letter is not changed : 
but whereas F used to be doubled at the twenty-fourth and 
twenty-fifth days, C, which is the Dominical letter for the 
twenty-eighth day, or else D, which is that for the first of 
March, is now supposed to be repeated on the twenty-ninth, 
notwithstanding Mr. Johnson, without giving any reason, ani- 
madverts upon me for saying so: 82 though he himself had 
formerly asserted February the twenty-ninth to be the modern 
intercalary day ; 83 and that, as I take it, upon better grounds 
than he now shews for retracting his opinion. So that there 
being now no other variation of the days, than that a day is 
added at the end of the month, St. Matthias's day must conse- 
quently be always observed on the twenty-fourth day, i. e. as 
well in leap-years as others. But notwithstanding the case is 
so clear in itself, yet some almanack-makers, still following the 
old custom of placing St. Matthias's day in leap-years on the 
twenty-fifth, and not on the twenty-fourth of February, are the 
occasion of that day's being still variously observed in such 
years. For which reason, on February the fifth, A. D. 1683, 
archbishop Sancroft (who was himself one of the reviewers of 
the Liturgy, and was principally concerned in revising the 
calendar, and whose knowledge in that sort of learning excel- 
led si ) published an injunction or order, requiring all F arsons, 
Vicars, and Curates, to take notice, that the feast of St. 
Matthias is to be celebrated {not upon the twenty-fifth of 
February, as the common almanacks boldly and erroneously 
set it, but) upon the twenty -fourth of February for ever, 
whether it be leap-year or not, as the Calendar in the Liturgy, 
confirmed by Act of Uniformity, appoints and enjoins. 

Dr. Wallis indeed informs us, that "the archbishop (upon 
teeing a letter drawn up by him upon the subject, and upon 
iliscourse with others to the same purpose) seemed well satis- 
tied that it was his mistake ; and presumes that if he had 
continued archbishop to another leap-year, and in good cir- 
cumstances, he would have reversed his former orders, and di- 
rected the almanacks to be printed as formerly." But this I 
conceive to be only a mere presumption of the doctor's. 85 The 

82 Addenda, ut supra. 83 Clergyman's Vade Mecum, vol. i. p. 2 7. 84 See Sir. 
Walton's Life of Bishop Sanderson. » 5 Advertisement to his Treatise concerning St. 
Matthias's day, &c, page 2. 



252 



OF THE SUNDAYS AND KOLY-DAYS, AND 



[chap. v. 



nrchbishop perhaps might think he had deviated from the an- 
cient rule : though indeed from Micrologus, 86 who lived about 
the year 1080, (two hundred years before Durand, who is the 
first that I can find to mention the contrary practice,) it ap- 
pears, the ancient custom was to keep St. Matthias, as our pre- 
sent Liturgy now enjoins, even in leap-years, upon the twenty- 
fourth. However, let the ancient custom have been what it will, 
since the archbishop's leaving out the rubric and altering the 
calendar was confirmed by the king, both in convocation and 
parliament, it was not in his power to make any alteration 
without the consent of the same authority. 

§. 6. Upon the day of St. Philip and St. James, 
St st P jaraes? d til1 the last review, the Church read the eighth 
chapter of the Acts for the morning second Les- 
son, therein commemorating St. Philip the deacon ; but now 
in the room of that she appoints part of the first chapter of St. 
John, and commemorates only St. Philip the Apostle, and St. 
James the brother of our Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, 
who wrote the Epistle that bears that name, part of which is 
appointed for the Epistle for the day. The other St. James, 
the son of Zebedee, for distinction sake surnamed the Great, 
(either by reason of his age or stature,) hath another day pe- 
culiar to himself in July. 

st John the Bap- §■ ^ ' J° nn Baptist's Nativity is celebrated 
tist's Nativity, by reason of the wonderful circumstances of it, 
why celebrated. and Qn account of the grea t joy it brought to all 
those who expected the Messiah. There was formerly another 
day (viz. August 29) set apart in commemoration of his be- 
heading. But now the Church celebrates both his nativity and 
death on one and the same day ; whereon though his myste- 
rious birth is principally solemnized, yet the chief passages of 
his life and death are severally recorded in the portions of 
Scripture appointed for the day. 

a remark u on §* ^' ^ wom "d observe upon the Gospel ap- 
th^Gospei for°st. pointed for the festival of St. Bartholomew, 87 that 
Bartholomew's tne p ara ll e l pl ace to it in St. Matthew is appointed 
to be read on St. James's day : and then indeed 
more properly, it being occasioned by the request of Zebe- 
dee's children, of which James was one. With submission, 

86 In Bissextili Anno Nativitatem S. Matthiae Apostoli columus in ilia Die, quae Vi- 
giliam ejus proxime sequitur, non in altera, quae propter Bissextum eo Anno in eodem 
Calendario iteratur. Microlog. de Ecclesiast. Observat. c. 47, apud Bibliothec. Patrum, 
tern. x. p. 159. Paris. 1654. 87 Luke xxii. 24—31. 



sect, xxviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 



253 



therefore, I should think, that a more suitable Gospel for the 
festival of St. Bartholomew would be John i. 43, to the end, 
which is the history of Nathanaei's coming to our Saviour, who 
is generally allowed to be the same with Bartholomew. The 
occasion why that passage in St. Luke was affixed to this day 
was a conceit that St. Bartholomew's noble descent was the 
occasion of the strife that is there recorded. 88 But if this re- 
late to the same dispute which is mentioned by two other of 
the evangelists, viz. St. Matthew and St. Mark, it is plain that 
it was owing to another cause. 

§. 9. One day in the year the Church sets apart 
to express her thankfulness to God for the many s VuSngds? nd 
benefits it hath received by the ministry of holy 
angels. And because St. Michael is recorded in Scripture as 
an angel of great power and dignity, and as presiding and 
watching over the Church of God with a particular vigilance 
and application, 89 and triumphing over the devil, 90 it therefore 
bears his name. 

§. 10. The feast of All-Saints is not of very A11 _g aints da 
great antiquity in the Church. About the year am s a} ' 
of our Lord 610, the pantheon, or temple dedicated to all the 
gods, at the desire of Boniface IV., bishop of Home, was taken 
from the heathens by Phocas the emperor, and dedicated to 
the honour of all martyrs. Hence came the original of All 
Saints, which was then celebrated upon the first of May : af- 
terwards, by an order of Gregory IV., it was removed to the 
first of November, A. D. 834, where it hath stood ever since. 
And our reformers having laid aside the celebration of a great 
many martyrs' days, which had grown too numerous and cum- 
bersome to the Church, thought fit to retain this day, where- 
on the Church, by a general commemoration, returns her 
thanks to God for them all. 

§.11. The Lessons, Collects, Epistles, and Gos- The Lessons 
pels * for all these and the other holy-days, are collects, Epis- 
either such as bear a particular relation to the tles » and Gos P els - 
subject of the festival, or are at least suitable to the season, as 
containing excellent instructions for holy and exemplary lives, 
it being (as I have already noted, page 189, &c.) the design 

* In all the old Common Prayer Books, the Epistle for the Purification -was ordered 
to be " the same that was appointed for the Sunday," and the Gospel for the same day 
ended in the middle of the twenty-seventh verse of the chapter, whereas now it is con- 
tinued to the end of the fortieth. 

69 Petrus de Natalibus in Catalogo Sanctorum, 1. 7, c. 103 . 89 Dan. x. 13. 
•- 1 Jude 9. Rev. xii. 7. 



'251 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



of the Church to excite us to emulate those blessed saints, by 
setting their examples so often before us. They are most of 
them taken from ancient Liturgies, but some were (for good 
reasons) altered and changed at the Reformation.* 

It would not have been foreign to the design of these sheets, 
to have added in this place a short account of the lives of the 
Apostles and other saints, commemorated by our Church : but 
considering that this is done in several other books already 
published, I shall waive the doing it in this, being not willing 
to swell the bulk of it with any thing that is better supplied 
by other hands. If the reader be as yet destitute of any thing 
of this nature, he cannot better provide himself than with the 
late learned and most excellent Mr. Nelson's Companion for 
the Festivals and Fasts : in which he may not only satisfy his 
curiosity as to the remains we have in history concerning 
those blessed saints, whose virtues we commemorate ; but he 
will also be supplied with proper meditations and devotions 
for each day : a book which, next to the Bible and Common 
Prayer, and the Whole Duty of Man, I would heartily re- 
commend as the most useful one I know, to all sincere mem- 
bers of the Church of England. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 
LORD'S SUPPER,t OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 
Whatever benefits we now enjoy, or hope here- 
Th Euc r h U arisL tlie after t0 receive from Almighty God, they are all 
purchased by the death, and must be obtained 

* The present Collect for St. Andrew's day was first inserted in the second book of 
king Edward VI. That, which was in his first book was this that follows : " Almighty 
God, which hast given such grace to thy Apostle St. Andrew, that he counted the sharp 
and painful death of the cross to be an hia;h honour and great glory ; grant us to take 
and esteem all troubles and adversities which shall come unto us for thy sake, as things 
profitable for us towards the obtainingof everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

The Collect for the Conversion of St. Paul in all the old books was this : " God, which 
hast taught all the world through the preaching of thy blessed Apostle, St. Paul, grant, 
we beseech thee, that we, which have his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may 
follow and fulfil the holy doctrine that he taught, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

In the Collect for the festival of St. Philip and St. James, after " the way, the truth, 
a-il the life," in the same books followed, "as thou hast taught St. Philip and other 
the Apostles, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

t The title of this Office in the first book of king Edward was, " The Supper of th* 
Lord, and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mssjs." 



in trod.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



255 



through the intercession of the holy Jesus. We are therefore 
not only taught to mention his name continually in our pray- 
ers ; but are also commanded, by visible signs, to represent 
and set forth to his heavenly Father his all-sufficient and me- 
ritorious death and sacrifice, as a more powerful way of inter- 
ceding and obtaining the divine acceptance. So that what 
we more compendiously express in that general conclusion of 
our prayers through Jesus Ch?°ist our Lord, we more fully 
and forcibly represent in the celebration of the holy eucharist : 
wherein we intercede on earth, in conjunction with the great 
intercession of our High Priest in heaven, and plead in the 
virtue and merits of the same sacrifice here which he is con- 
tinually urging for us there. And because of this near alli- 
ance between praying and communicating, we find the eu- 
charist was always, in the purest ages of the Church, a daily 
part of the Common Prayer. And therefore, though the 
shameful neglect of religion with us has made the imitation 
of this example to be rather wished for than expected ; yet it 
shews us, what excellent reason our Church had to annex so- 
much of this office to the usual service on all solemn days. 

§. 2. As to the primitive and original form of 
administration, since it does not appear that our ^vmsof admin is- 
Saviour prescribed any particular method, most ^ i °" r ^g 3rent 
Churches took the liberty to compose Liturgies 
for themselves ; which perhaps being only the forms used by 
the founders of each Church, a little altered and enlarged, 
were, in honour of those founders, distinguished by their 
names. For thus the Liturgies of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and 
Rome, have been always called St. James's, St. Mark's, and 
St. Clement's. But, however, none of these being received as 
of divine institution; therefore St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, 
St. Ambrose and St. Gregory, in after-ages, each of them 
composed a Liturgy of their own. And so the excellent com- 
pilers of our Common Prayer, following their example, no 
otherwise confined themselves to the Liturgies that were be- 
fore them, than out of them all to extract an office for them- 
selves : and which indeed they performed with so exact a 
judgment and happy success, that it is hard to determine whe- 
ther they more endeavoured the advancement of devotion, or 
the imitation of pure antiquity. 

But Bucer being called in (as I have observed elsewhere) 
to give his opinion of it, this momentous and principal office 



256 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



of our Liturgy had the misfortune to suffer very great alter- 
ations. Some amendment in the method it might possibly 
have borne ; but the practice of foreign churches, and not 
primitive Liturgies, being always with him the standard of 
reformation, the most ancient forms and primitive rites were 
forced to give way to modern fancies. It is true, some of 
these were again restored at the last review ; but it is still 
much lamented by learned men, that some other additions 
were not made at that time, that so every thing might have 
been restored which was proper or decent, as well as every 
thing left out that was superstitious or offensive. 

_ . 3. What these particulars are, shall be 

The Communion ,< 5 1 0l . . . *. _ , 

Office designed shewn hereafter in their proper places. In the 

d iffere U n S t e ?ime a mean time 1 sha11 here observe, that the office 
from morning originally was designed to be distinct, and to be 
prayer. introduced with the Litany, as I have observed 

before, 1 and consequently to be used at a different time from 
morning prayer : for in all the Common Prayer Books before 
the last, so many as intended to be partakers of the holy 
Communion, were to signify their names to the Curate over- 
night, or else in the morning before the beginning of morn- 
ing prayer or immediately after. The design of which rubric 
was partly that the Minister (by this means knowing the 
number of his communicants) might the better judge how to 
provide the elements of bread and wine sufficient for the 
occasion; but chiefly (as appears from the following rubrics) 
that he might have time to inform himself of the parties who 
intended to receive, that so if there were any among them not 
duly qualified, he might persuade them to abstain of their 
own accords; or, if they obstinately offered themselves, ab- 
solutely reject them. Now the rubric supposing, that this 
might be done immediately after morning prayer, as well as 
before it began, we must necessarily infer, that there was 
sufficient time designed to be allowed between the two ser- 
vices, for the Curate not only to provide the elements, but 
also to confer with and advise his communicants. I know 
indeed that Alesse, in his translation of the Liturgy for the 
use of Bucer, applies the word after to the beginning of 
morning prayer, translating the rubric (though without either 
reason or authority) after this manner : Quotquot cupiunt 
participes fieri sacrce Communionis, indicabunt nomina sua 

» See pages 165, 1C6. 



sect, i.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION". 



257 



Pastori pridie, aut mane, priusquam inchoentur Matutince^ 
vel immediate post principium : which another Latin trans- 
lation, published in queen Elizabeth's time, expresses plainer, 
vel immediate post principium matutinarum precum. But 
how is it possible that the Curate could either take their 
names, or confer with those that came, whilst he was other- 
wise employed in reading morning prayers? The words 
immediately after, therefore, must plainly refer to the ending 
of morning prayers ; after which, those who had not offered 
themselves before, were required to come and signify their 
names, that so the Curate might know what sort of persons 
he should have to communicate with him, before he pro- 
ceeded to the Communion Office. This rubric indeed was 
altered at the last review ; so that now all that intend to com- 
municate are required to signify their names at least some 
time the day before. But then the design of this alteration 
was not that both offices should be united in one, but that the 
Curate might have a more competent time to inquire of, and 
consult with, those that offered themselves to communicate. 2 
The offices are still as distinct as ever, and ought still to be 
read at different times. A custom which bishop Overal says 
was observed in his time in York and Chichester; 3 and the 
same practice, Mr. Johnson tells us, prevailed at Canterbury 
long since the Bestoration, as it did very lately, if it does not 
still, at the cathedral of Worcester. 4 It is certain that the 
Communion Office still every where retains the old name of 
the Second Service ; and bishop Overal, just now mentioned, 
imputes it to the negligence of Ministers, and the carelessness 
of people, that they are ever huddled together into one office. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Communion Office. 

From what has been said just now above, the 
design of the first rubric sufficiently appears, viz. SiSstei t T be 
That the Curate, by knowing, at least some time judges of the fit- 
the day before, the names of all that intend to Communicants. 
be partakers of the holy Communion, may judge 
what quantity of bread and wine will be sufficient, and also 
may have time enough to learn, whether those that offer 
themselves to the Communion are fit to receive. For, 

2 See the account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners, 1661, p. 15, and the 
Papers that passed between the Commissioners, p. 129. 3 See Dr. Nichols's addi- 
tional Notes, p. 36. 4 Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 12, third edition. 



258 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



§. 2. If any of those be an open or notorious 
hav^power to** ev ^ ^ wr j or ^ iave done an V wr <>ng to his neigh- 
repei scandalous hours by word or deed, so that the congregation 
be thereby offended; the Curate, having know- 
ledge thereof shall call him and advertise him, that in any 
icise he presume not to come to the Lord's table until he hath 
openly declared himself to have truly repented, and amended 
his former naughty life, that the congregation may thereby be 
satisfied, which before were offended ; and that he hath re- 
compensed the parties to whom he hath done ivrong, or at least 
declare himself to be in full purpose so to do, as soon as he 
conveniently may. 

The same order shall the Curate use icith those between whom 
he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign; not suffering them to 
be 'partakers of the Lord's table, until he know them to be re- 
conciled. And if any one of the parties so at variance be con- 
tent to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all that the other 
hath trespassed against him, and to make amends for that he 
himself hath offended ; and the other party will not be persuad- 
ed to a godly unity, but remain still in his frowardness and 
malice; the Minister in that case ought to admit the 'penitent 
person to the holy Communion, and not him that is obstinate. 

Now here we must distinguish between absolutely repelling 
and shutting out any one from the Communion, as by a judi- 
cial act, and only suspending him for a time, till the Minister 
has opportunity to send his case to the Ordinary. The first 
of these is what the rubric cannot be understood to imply : 
for by the laws of the land, both ecclesiastical and civil, none 
are to be shut out from this Sacrament, but such as are noto- 
rious delinquents, and none are notorious but such as the sen- 
tence of the law hath, either upon their own confession, or 
full conviction, declared so to be. And this is conformable 
both to the Imperial Edict, and the practice of the Church, 
as long ago as St. Austin. The first hath this established law : 
" We prohibit all, both bishops and presbyters, from shutting 
out any one from the Communion, before some just cause be 
shewn for which the holy canons require it to be done." 5 
And as to the ancient usage, St. Austin speaks very plain ; 
"We cannot," saith he, "repel any man from the Communion, 
unless he has freely confessed his offence, or hath been ac- 

s Novel. 123, c. 11, Collat. 9, Tit. 15, c. 11. 



sect, ij THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



259 



cused and convicted in some ecclesiastical consistory or se- 
cular court." 

But now all this plainly refers to the power of secluding from 
the Communion judicially and with authority whereas the 
design of this rubric is only to enable the Curate to refuse to 
administer to any of his congregation (of whose ill life and ] 
behaviour he has received sudden notice) till he can have 
opportunity of laying his case before the Ordinary. For by a 
clause, added at the last review, it is provided, That every 
Minister, so repelling any, as is specified in this, or the next 
precedent paragraph of this rubric, shall be obliged to give 
an account of the same to the Ordinary, within fourteen days 
after at the farthest, and the Ordinary is to proceed against 
the offending person according to the canon. The hundred 
and ninth canon, I suppose, is meant, which requires the Or- 
dinary to punish all such notorious offenders by the severity 
of the laws, and not to admit them to the Communion till they 
be reformed. 

But here I know it may be objected, that the persons, whom 
the Curate is by this rubric empowered to repel, are declared 
to be such as are notorious evil livers, and that I have already 
allowed that none are notorious but such as the sentence of 
the law has declared so to be. But to this I answer, that no- 
toriety in this place is taken in a lower degree ; the rubric 
using the words open and notorious for the same thing, and 
explaining those to be notorious by whom the congregation is 
offended. That it cannot mean those whom the law has de- 
clared to be notorious, is plain, because such are supposed to 
be already shut out from the Communion, and consequently the 
Curate must himself have received notice from his Ordinary 
not to admit them : whereas the persons, whom the rubric 
provides against, are such as the Ordinary is supposed not yet 
to have heard of, whom therefore it requires the Curate to 
send him notice of, in order that he may proceed against them 
according to law ; and whom, in the mean while, the Curate 
is empowered by this rubric (which is itself a law, being 
established by the Act of Uniformity) to refuse the Commu- 
nion, if, after due admonition to keep away, he obstinately 
offers himself to receive : insomuch that no damage from any 
prior law can accrue to him from a conscientious execution of 
the latter. And that this is no novel or unnecessary power is 
plain from the practice of the ancient Church ; in which though 



260 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 

all open offenders, as soon as known, were put under censure, 
yet if before censure they offered themselves at the Commu- 
nion, they were repelled. This is evident from St. Chrysos- 
tom, 6 who does not more earnestly press the duty, than he 
does plainly assert the authority of the sacerdotal power to 
effect it. " Let no Judas," saith he, " no lover of money be 
present at this table ; he that is not Christ's disciple, let him 
depart from it. Let no inhuman, no cruel person, no un- 
compassionate man, or unchaste, come hither. I speak this 
to you that administer, as well as to those that partake : 
for it is necessary I speak these things to you, that you 
may take great care, and use your utmost diligence to dis- 
tribute these offerings aright. For no small punishment 
hangeth over your heads, if knowing any man to be wicked, 
you suffer him to be partaker of this table ; for his blood 
shall be required at your hands. Wherefore, if he be a ge- 
neral, or a provincial governor, or the emperor himself, that 
cometh unworthily, forbid him and keep him off ; thy power 
is greater than his. If any such get to the table, reject him 
without fear. If thou darest not remove him, tell it me ; I 
will not suffer it, I will yield my life rather than the Lord's 
body to any unworthy person : and suffer my own blood to be 
.shed, before I will grant that sacred blood to any but to him 
■that is worthy." 

But here again it has been objected, that " all persons, be- 
fore they are admitted into any office, are obliged by our laws 
to receive the sacrament as a qualification ; and consequently 
that the Minister is obliged by the same laws, to admit any 
person that offers himself upon this occasion, to the holy 
Communion, however unfit he may have rendered himself by 
his life and actions." But in answer to this, it must be con- 
sidered, that the power which Christ himself invested his 
Church with, of admitting persons into her communion, and 
excluding them from it, is what no human laws can deprive 
her of. And therefore when the laws require men to receive 
this holy Sacrament to qualify themselves for offices, they al- 
ways suppose that they must first qualify themselves accord- 
ing to the holy laws of the Church, which are founded on those 
of the Gospel. So that it would be a very great injury to our 
legislators (as being a very uncharitable opinion of them) to 
imagine, that if an unbaptized, or excommunicate person, a 
deist, or notorious sinner, should happen to obtain an office, 

c Chrysost. Horn. S3, in Matt. xxvi. 



sect, r.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



261 



that they intend to oblige the Church to admit persons, under 
these bad dispositions, to be partakers of the blessed Eucharist. 

The primitive Church was so cautious in this respect, that 
even persons in the highest stations were rejected, if they of- 
fered themselves unworthily. Of which we have a remarkable 
instance in the case of the emperor Theodosius, whom St. 
Ambrose boldly and openly refused, upon the commission of 
a barbarous crime. The story being worth the reader's notice, 
I shall therefore give it in a few words. There being a sedition 
among the people of Thessalonica, the emperor ordered the 
guard to fall on them in heat, who in that hurry and confusion 
destroyed several thousands of these poor wretches. Soon 
after which, he coming to Milan, was going to offer himself at 
St. Ambrose's church to receive the Communion. But the 
good bishop (when he heard of it) met him courageously at 
the church doors, and obliged him to return, and first repent 
himself of his crime. " With what eyes," saith he, " can you 
behold the temple of him who is the common Lord of all ? 
"With what feet can you tread this holy place ? How can you 
put out those hands to receive the blessed elements, which are 
yet reeking with innocent blood ? How can you take the pre- 
cious blood into that mouth, which gave out such barbarous 
and bloody orders? Depart therefore, and take heed that you 
do not increase your first crime by a second. Submit your- 
self to the bond which the Lord of the world has been pleased 
to bind you with, which is only medicinal, and intended to 
work your cure." 7 This repulse the emperor acquiesced in„ 
and offered himself no more to those holy rites, till he had in 
tears repented of the sad effects of his hasty anger. I have 
chosen to give this instance, because it is what the Church of 
England has thought fit to record in her Homilies, and to 
mention with marks of approbation and applause. 8 

But besides persons excommunicated, and 

, . -] i ;1 7 Other persons 

those above mentioned, there are other persons, disqualified from 
by the laws of our Church, disabled from com- communicating, 

. -. n ii i * * arc, scnismaiics j 

mumcating : such as are or course all schismatics, 
to whom no . Minister , when he celebrate th the Communion, 
is wittingly to administer the same, under pain of suspension. 9 
But of these too, unless they have been legally convicted, the 
Minister who repels them is obliged upon complaint, or being 

7 Theod. Hist. Eocl. I. 5. s j. n the second part of the Homily of the Right Use of 
the Church. » Can. 27. 



262 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



required by the Ordinary, to signify the cause thereof unto 
him, and therein to obey his order and direction.™ And fur- 
ther, by a rubric at the end of the Order of Confirmation, 

none are to be admitted to the holy Communion^ 
perS firmed t - c ° n ~ unt ^ suc ^ ^ me as ? ie oe confirmed, or be ready 

and desirous to be confirmed. The like provision 
is made by our Provincial Constitutions, which allow none to 
communicate (unless at the point of death) but such as are 
confirmed, or at least have a reasonable impediment for not 
being confirmed r 11 and the Glossary allows no impediment to 
be reasonable, but the want of a bishop near the place. And 
and strangers l ast ty> au strangers from other parishes ; the Min- 
from other ister is by the canons 12 required to forbid and 
parishes. tQ rem fo g^fo ] lome t their own parish churches 

and ministers, there to receive the Communion with the rest 
of their neighbours. 

%. 3. The last rubric concerning the covering 

Rubric 4. Con- 8 •, ,. c r\ • r i-i j. 

ceming the situ- an0 - situation oi the Communion table, was first 
munion *abie 0m " ac ^ed m tne secon( l Common Prayer Book of 
e " king Edward VI., there being no other rubric 
in his first book than this, The priest, standing humbly afore 
the middes of the altar, shall saie the Lord's Prayer, &c* 
For altar was the name by which the holy board was con- 
stantly distinguished for the first three hundred years after 
Christ ; during all which time it does not appear that it was 
above once called table, and that was in a letter of Dionysius 
of Alexandria to Xystus of Rome. And when in the fourth 
century Athanasius called it a table, he thought himself obliged 
to explain the word, and to let the reader know that by table 

* In the first book of king Edward also, before this rubric, there was another in- 
serted in relation to the habits which the Ministers were to wear at the Communion, 
which I have already given in page 99, &c, to which was annexed this that follows, 
" Then shall the Clerks sing in English for the Office or Introit (as they call it) a Psalm 
appointed for that day." The Introits also I have already spoke to in page 204. Though 
I do not know how to reconcile this order for singing it before the Minister begins the 
office, with another rubric which stands in the same book immediately after the prayer, 
"Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open," &c, which orders, "that the Priest 
then shall say a Psalm appointed for the Introit : which Psalm ended, the Priest" was 
also then "to say, or else the Clerks were to sing, III Lord have mercy upon us, 
III Christ have mercy upon us, III Lord have mercy upon us." 

Then the Priest standing at God's board was to begin, " Glory be to God on high." 

The Clerks, " And in earth peace, good-will towards men:" and so on to the end cJ 
the hymn in our present Post-Communion-office. 

Then the Priest was to turn him to the people, and say, " The Lord be with you." 

Answer. " And with thy spirit." 

The Priest. " Let us pray." 

And then came the Collect for the day, and one of the Collects for the king. 
io Can. 27, 11 Prov. Linw. cap. de sacr. Unct. « Can. 28. 



sect. I.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



263 



he meant altar, that being then the constant and familiar 
name. 13 Afterwards indeed both names came to be promiscu- 
ously used ; the one having respect to the oblation of the eu- 
charist, the other to the participation : but it was always placed 
altar-wise in the most sacred part of the Church, and fenced 
in with rails to secure it from irreverence and disrespect. 

But at the beginning of the Reformation, an unhappy dis- 
pute arose, viz. whether those tables of the altar-fashion, 
which had been used in the popish times, and on which masses 
had been celebrated, should still be continued : this point was 
first started by bishop Hooper, who, in a sermon before the 
king in the fourth year of his reign, declared, " That it would 
do well, that it might please the magistrate, to turn altars into 
tables, according to the first institution of Christ; to take 
away the false persuasion of the people, which they have of 
sacrifice, to be done upon the altars ; for as long (says he) as 
altars remain, both the ignorant people and the ignorant and 
evil persuaded priest will always dream of sacrifice."^ This 
occasioned not only a couple of letters from the king and 
council, one of which was sent to all the bishops, and the 
other to Ridley, bishop of London ; (in both which they were 
required to pull down the altars ;) but also that, when the Li- 
turgy was reviewed in 1551, the abovesaid rubric was altered, 
and in the room of it the present one was inserted, viz. The 
table having at the Communion time a fair white linen cloth 
upon it, shall stand in tfte body of the church, or in the chan- 
cel, where morning and evening prayer are appointed to be 
said. And the priest standing at the north side of the table, 
shall say the Lord's Prayer with the Collect following. 
But this did not put an end to the controversy ; another dis- 
pute arising, viz. whether the table placed in the room of the 
altar ought to stand altar-wise, i. e. in the same place and 
situation as the altar formerly stood ? This was the occasion 
that in some churches the tables were placed in the middle 
of the chancels, in others at the east part thereof next to the 
wall ; some again placing it endwise, and others placing it at 
length. 15 Bishop Ridley endeavoured to compromise this 
matter, and therefore, in St. Paul's cathedral, suffered the 
table to stand in the place of the old altar ; but beating down 
the wainscot partition behind, laid all the choir open to the 

13 See all this proved in Mr. Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, &c, chap. ii. sect. 3, vol. 
i. p. 300, &c. H See Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, page 105. 15 Huggard's Display 
of Protestants, p. 81, printed anno 1556, as cited in Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, p. 50- 



264 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 

east, leaving the table then to stand in the middle of the 
chancel, 16 which indeed was more agreeable to the primitive 
custom. 17 Under this diversity of usage, things went on till 
the death of king Edward ; when queen Mary coming to the 
throne, altars were again restored wherever they had been 
demolished : but her reign proving short, and queen Elizabeth 
succeeding her, the people, (just got free again from the ty- 
ranny of popery,) through a mistaken zeal, fell in a tumultuous 
manner to the pulling down of altars : though indeed this hap- 
pened for the generality only in private churches, they not 
being meddled with in any of the queen's palaces, and in but 
very few of the cathedrals. And as soon as the queen was 
sensible of what had happened in other places, she put out an 
injunction 18 to restrain the fury of the people, declaring it to 
be no matter of great moment, whether tliere were altars or 
tables, so that the Sacrament was duly and reverently ad- 
ministered ; but ordering, that where an altar was taken down, 
a holy table should be decently made, and set in the place 
where the altar stood, and there commonly covered as thereto 
belonged, and as should be appointed by tlie visitor, and so ta 
stand, saving when the communion of the Sacrament was to 
be distributed ; at which time the same was to be placed in 
good sort within the chancel, as thereby the Minister might 
be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer 
and ministration, and the communicants also more conveni- 
ently and in more number communicate with the said Min- 
ister. And after the Communion done, from time to time 
the same holy table was to be placed where it stood before. 
Now it is plain from this injunction, as well as from the 
eighty-second canon of the Church, (which is almost verbatim 
the same,) that there is no obligation arising from this rubric 
to move the table at the time of the Communion, unless the 
people cannot otherwise conveniently hear and communicate. 
The injunction declares, that the holy table is to be set in the 
same place where the altar stood, which every one knows was 
at the east end of the chancel. And when both the injunc- 
tion and canon speak of its being moved at the time of the 
Communion, it supposes that the Minister could not other- 
wise be heard : the interposition of a belfry between the 
chancel and body of the church (as I have already observed, 

15 Acts and Monuments, part ii. p. 700. 17 See Bingham's Antiquities, 1. 8, c. 6,. 
§.11. 16 See the Injunction in Bisnop Sparrow's Collection, p. 84. 



SECT. I.] 



THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION - . 



265 



p. 108, &c.) hindering the Minister in some churches from 
being heard by the people, if he continued in the chancel. So 
that we are not under any obligation to move the table, unless 
necessity requires. But whenever the churches are built so 
as the Minister can be heard, and conveniently administer 
the Sacrament at the place where the table usually stands, he 
is rather obliged to administer in the chancel, as appears from 
the rubric before the Commandments, as also from that before 
the Absolution, by both which rubrics the Priest is directed 
to turn himself to the people. From whence I argue, that if 
the table be in the middle of the church, and the people con- 
sequently round about the Minister, the Minister cannot turn 
himself to the people any more at one time than another. 
Whereas if the table be close to the east wall, the Minister 
stands on the north side, and looks southward, and conse- 
quently, by looking westward, turns himself to the people. 

§. 4. Wherever it be placed, the Priest is ob- The ^ ^ 
liged to stand at the north side, {or end thereof, to stand at the 
as the Scotch Liturgy expresses it ; which also or- JJJJ) 1 Slde of the 
ders, that it shall stand at the uppermost part 
of the chancel or church,) the design of which is, that the 
Priest ma) r be the better seen and heard ; which, as our altars 
are now placed, he cannot be but at the north or south side. 
And therefore the north side being the right hand or upper 
side of the altar, is certainly the most proper for the officiating 
Priest, that so the assisting Minister (if there be one) may not 
be obliged to stand above him. And bishop Beveridge has 
shewn that wherever, in the ancient Liturgies, the Minister is 
directed to stand before the altar, the north side of it is always 
meant. 19 

§. 5. The covering of the altar with a fair The table t0 be 
white linen cloth, at the time of the celebration ^ e ^ e ^j th a 
of the Lord's Supper, was a primitive practice, 20 nen c ' 
enjoined at first, and retained ever since for its decency. In 
the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, 21 this covering is called 
palla altaris, the pall of the altar ; to distinguish it, I suppose, 
from the corporis palla, or the cloth that was thrown over the 
consecrated elements. And the Scotch Liturgy orders, that 
the holy table at the Communion time should have a carpet, 
and a fair white linen cloth upon it, with other decent furni- 

19 Bev. Pandect, vol. ii. p. 76, §. 15. See also Renaudotius's Liturgies, torn. ii. p» 
24. 20 Optat. Milev. 1. 6, p. 113. Hieron. in Ep. ad Nepotianum. 21 In Ord. Diac. 



266 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. yi. 



ture, meet for the high mysteries there to he celebrated. And 
by our own canons, 22 at all other times, when divine service is 
performed, it is to be covered with a carpet of silk, or rather 
decent stuff, thought meet by the Ordinary of the place, if 
any question be made of it which was originally designed 
for the clean keeping of the said [white linen] cloth : 23 though 
the chief use of it now is for ornament and decency. 

Sect. II. — Of the Lord's Prayer. 

Why used at the There can be no fitter beginning for this sacred 
beginning of the ordinance, which so peculiarly challengeth Christ 
for its author, than that divine prayer which owes 
its original to the same person, and which St. Jerome tells us, 24 
Christ taught his Apostles, on purpose that they should use it 
at the holy Communion. To which the primitive Fathers 
thought it so peculiarly adapted, that they generally expounded 
that petition, Give us this day our daily bread, of the body of 
Christ, the bread of life, which in those times they daily re- 
ceived for the nourishment of their souls. 25 

Sect. III. — Of the Collect for Purity. 

why used before ^ s the people were to be purified before the 
the command- first publication of the law, 26 so must we have 
clean hearts before we be fit to hear it ; lest, if 
our minds be impure sin taJce occasion by tlie commandment 
to stir up concupiscence : 27 for prevention of which, when the 
Commandments were added in the second book of king Ed- 
ward, it was thought proper that this form should immediately 
precede them : not but that the form itself was in our first Li- 
turgy, and, as far as appears, in the oldest offices of the West- 
ern Church. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Ten Commandments. 

These divine precepts of the moral law as much 
H ° Wa here PlaCed ob % e Christians as they did the Jews : we vowed 
to keep them at our baptism, and we renew that 
vow at every Communion: and therefore it is very fit we 
should hear them often, and especially at those times when we 
are going to make fresh engagements to observe them. Upon 

2 2 Can. 82. [ 23 See an order of queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1561, in Heylin's Antidot. 
Lincoln, p. 45. 24 Hieron. adv. Pelag. 1. 3, c. 5, torn. ii. p. 596, C 25 Tert. de 
Orat. Dom. c. 6, p. 131, D. 132, A. Cyprian, in Orat. Dom. p. 146, 147. 26 Exod. 
xix. 14. 27 Rom. vii. 8. 



sect, v.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



267 



which account, since we are to confess all our sins before we 
come to this blessed Sacrament of pardon, the Church pru- 
dently directs the Minister, now standing in the most holy 
place, to turn himself to the people,* and from thence, like 
another Moses from Mount Sinai, to convey God's laws to 
them, by rehearsing distinctly all the Ten Commandments ; 
by which, as in a glass, they may discover all their offences, 
and, still kneeling, may, after every Commandment, aslc God 
mercy for their transgression thereof (i. e. as the Scotch Li- 
turgy expresses it, of every duty therein, either according to 
the letter, or to the mystical importance of the said Com- 
mandment) for the time past, and grace to keep the same for 
the time to come.\ 

Sect. V. — Of the two Collects for the King. 
St. Paul seems to command that we should 
pray for kings in all our prayers: 28 and in the Th fS e n c f or 
primitive Church they always supplicated for their 
princes at the time of the celebration of the holy Eucharist ; 29 
where, by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ's death commemor- 
ated, those great requests might be likely to prevail. 
m §. 2 In our Liturgy these prayers do not (as my placed next 
m the Koman Missal) disturb the prayer of Con- after the Com- 
secration, but, as the office is now compiled, are mandments - 
more conveniently placed here : the king is custos utriusque 
tabulce, defender of both tables of the law, and therefore we 
properly pray for him just after the Commandments. Nor do 
our prayers for him less aptly precede the daily Collect : since 
when we have prayed for outward prosperity to the Church, 
the consequent of the king's welfare, we may very seasonably 
in the Collect pray for inward grace, to make it completely 
happy. J For variety here are two prayers, but they both tend 
to the same end, and only differ a little in the form. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel. 

It is evident, that long before the dividing the of the collect, 
Bible into chapters and verses, it was the custom &c - 

* This direction of " turning to the people " was first added in the Scotch Liturgy. 

t These latter words, " for the time past," &c, were added at the last review : though 
indeed no part of the rubric, nor of the Commandments themselves, were in the first 
book of king Edward VI., nor, as far as I can find, in any ancient Liturgy. 

% In all the former Common Prayer Books, except the Scotch, it seems as if the Col- 
lect for the day was used before that for the king. For the old rubric was this : " Then 
shall follow the Collect for the day, with one of these two Collects following for the king." 

28 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. » Liturg. S. Jacob. S. Chrys. S. Bas. Vide Euseb. de Vita Con- 
stant. 1. 4, c. 45, p. 549. 



268 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



both of the Greek and Latin Churches to 'read some select 
portions of the plainest and most practical parts of the New 
Testament, first for the Epistle, and then for the Gospel, at 
the celebration of the holy Eucharist, 30 in imitation perhaps of 
the Jewish mode of reading the history of the Passover before 
the eating of the paschal lamb. 31 

§. 2. As for the antiquity, matter, and suitable- 
Y, ? s y read fiS^ ness of the several Collects, Epistles, and Gos- 
pels, I have already spoken at large. I shall on- 
ly make this one remark more, that as our Saviour's disciples 
went before his face to every city and place, whither he him- 
self would come ,- 32 so here the Epistle, as the word of the 
servant, is read first, that it may be as a harbinger to the Gos- 
pel, to which the last place and greatest honour is reserved, 
as being the word of their great Master. And for this reason 
I suppose it was ordered by the advertisements published in the 
seventh year of queen Elizabeth, 33 and by the twenty-fourth 
of our present canons, that the principal Minister, at the 
Epistierand celebration of the Communion, should be as- 
Gospeier, why , sisted with a Gospeler and Epistler agreea- 

appointed. hJy . j ^ ^ QnQ Minister to read the Epistle 

and another to read the Gospel, as is still generally the cus- 
tom in cathedral churches ; which was also provided for by 
the rubrics in king Edward's first book, which orders that the 
priest, or he that is appointed, shall read the Epistle in a place 
assigned for that purpose, (which from the modern practice 
I take to be on the south side of the table ;) and that immedi- 
ately after the Epistle ended, the priest, or one appointed, 
(which, as appears from the next rubric, might be a deacon,) 
shall read the Gospel. 

§. 3. The custom of saying Glory he to thee, O 
Sing^GioVbe Lord i when the Minister was about to read the 
to thee, o Lord, holy Gospel, and of singing Hallelujah, or saying, 
t1qui?y what an " Thanks be to God for his holy Gospel, when he 
had concluded it, is as old as St. Chrysostom ; 3i 
but we have no authority for it in our present Liturgy. The 
first indeed was enjoined by king Edward's first Common 
Prayer Book, and so the custom has continued ever since ; 
and I do not find how it came to be left out of the rubric after- 
wards. It certainly could have nothing objected against it, 
and therefore it is restored in the Scotch Liturgy ; which also 

33 Just. Mart. Ap. 1, Clem. Const. Apost. lib. 2, c. 56, 57. 3i Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. 
33 Luke x. 1. 3 3 In Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 124, 125. 34 Liturg. S. Chrys; 



sect, vii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



269 



ordered, that, when the Presbyter shall say, So endeih the 
holy Gospel, the people shall answer, Thanks he to thee, O 
Lord. In our own Common Prayer Book the Priest has no 
direction to say, The Gospel is ended ; the reason of which 
some imagine to be, because it is still continued in the Creed 
that followeth. 

§. 4. In St. Augustine's time the people always standing up at 
stood when the Lessons were read, to shew their the Gospel, -n-ny 
reverence to God's holy word : 35 but afterwards, commanded - 
when this was thought too great a burden, they were allowed 
to sit down at the Lessons, and were only obliged to stand 
(as our present order, which was first inserted in the Scotch 
Common Prayer Book, now enjoins us) at the reading of the 
Gospel, 36 which always contains something that our Lord 
did, spoke, or suffered in his own person. By which gesture 
they shewed they had a greater respect to the Son of God 
himself, than they had to any other inspired person, though 
speaking the word of God, and by God's authority. 

Sect. VII. — Of the Nicene Creed. 

As the Apostles' Creed is placed immediately why placed after 
after the daily Lessons, so is this after the Epis- the Epistle and 
tie and Gospel : both of them being founded Gospei - 
upon the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. As therefore 
in the foregoing portions of Scripture we believe with our heart 
to righteousness, so in the Creed that follows, we confess with 
oar mouth to salvation. 

8. 2. This is commonly called the Nicene , . ... 

~ 3 , , . n , J i i An account of it. 

Creed, as being, tor the greatest part, the Creed 
that was drawn up by the first general Council of Nice, in the 
year 325, but enlarged by a fuller explication of some articles 
about the year 381, especially in relation to the divinity and 
procession of the Holy Ghost, in order to a more particular 
confutation and suppression of the Arian and Macedonian 
heresy. For which reason it was enjoined by the third Coun- 
cil of Toledo to be recited by all the people in Spain before 
the Sacrament, to shew that they were all free from heresy, 
and in the strictest league of union with the catholic Church. 37 
And since in this sacrament we are to renew our baptismal 
vow, (one branch of which was, that we would believe all the 

3 "> Augustin. Serm. 300, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 504, B. 36 Const. Ap. 1. 2, c. 56. 
Niceph. 1. 9, c. 18. Isid. Pelus. 1. 1, Ep. 136. Soz. 1. 7, c. 19. 37 Can. 2, torn. v. coL 
1009, E. 



270 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi. 



Articles of the Christian faith,) it is very requisite that, be- 
fore we be admitted, we should declare that we stand firm in 
the belief of those articles. 

Sect. VIII. — Of the Rubric after the Nicene Creed. 

After the Creed follows a rubric of directions , 
The re^tijns° f di " instructing the Priest what he is to publish, or 
make known to the people. I do not find any- 
such rubric in the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward 
VI. ; and in all the rest, quite down to the Eestoration, a de- 
claration of the holy-days only was ordered to be made after 
the Sermon or Homily was ended. 

Why the Curate §' 2 ' Tnis is tne first tn * n S our r ubric men- 
is to bid holy- tions now, viz. that the Curate shall declare 
days ' unto the people what holy -days or fasting -days 

are in the week following to be observed. The first reason 
of which was, lest the people should observe any such days 
as had been formerly kept, but were laid aside at the Reforma- 
tion : and therefore the Bishops inquired in their visitations, 
whether any of their Curates bid any other days than were 
appointed by the new calendar?* This danger is now pretty 
well over ; there being no great fear of the people's observing 
superstitious holy-days. But there is still as much reason for 
keeping up the rubric, since now they are run into a contrary 
extreme, and, instead of observing too many holy-days, regard 
none; which makes it fit that the Curate should discharge his 
duty, by telling them beforehand, what holy-days will happen, 
and then leaving it upon his people to answer for the neglect, 
if they are passed over without due regard. 
When to give §• ^' -dnd ^ ien a ^ so {if occasion be) shall 
notice of the notice be given of the Communion: though by 
communion. another rubric, just before the first exhortation, 
this is supposed to be done after sermon. For there it is or- 
dered, that when the Minister giveth learning for the celebra- 
tion of the holy Communion, {which he shall always do upon 
the Sunday, or some holy-day immediately preceding,) after the 
Sermon or Homily ended, he shall read the exhortation follow- 
ing. The occasion of this difference was the placing of this 
rubric of directions, at the last review, before the rubric con- 
cerning the Sermon or Homily. For by all the old Common 
Prayer Books, immediately after the Nicene Creed, the Sermon 

Archbishop Grindal, Art. VIII., 157G, for the whole province. 



sect, ix.] THE LORD-3 SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



271 



was ordered ; and then after that the Curate was to declare 
unto the people, ichether there icere any holy-days or fasting- 
days in the iceek following, and earnestly to exhort them to 
remember the poor, by reading one or more of the sentences, 
as he thought most convenient by his discretion. This was the 
whole of that rubric then. All the remaining part was added 
at the Restoration, as was also the rubric above cited just be- 
t fore the exhortation. Now it is plain by that rubric, that the 
warning to the Communion was intended to be given after the 
Sermon ; and therefore I should have imagined that there was 
no design to have changed the places of the two rubrics here, 
but only to have added some other directions concerning the 
proclaiming or publishing things in the church : and that con- 
sequently the placing of them in the order they now stand, might 
have been owing to the printer's, or some other mistake ; but 
that I observe in the next rubric the priest is ordered to re- 
turn to the Lord's table, which supposes that he has been in 
the pulpit since he was at the table before ; and therefore in- 
clines me to believe that the rubrics were transposed with 
design ; and that the intent of the revisers was, that when 
there was nothing in the Sermon itself preparatory to the 
Communion, both this and the other rubric should be com- 
plied with, viz. by giving warning in this place, that there 
will be a Communion on such a day, and then reading the 
exhortation after Sermon is ended. 

§. 4. At this time also briefs, citations, and ex- Tniat th . 
communications are to be read. But nothing is to be published, and 
be proclaimed or published in the church, during " 5Vhatnot - 
the time of divine service, but by the Minister : nor by him any 
thing but what is prescribed in the rules of the Common Prayer 
Book, or enjoined by the King, or by the Ordinary of the place. 
All this was undoubtedly added, to prevent the custom, that 
still too much prevails in some country churches, of publish- 
ing the most frivolous, unbefitting, and even ridiculous things 
in the face of the congregation. 

Sect. IX— Of the Sermon. 
Sermons have been appointed from the be- 
ginning of Christianity, 39 to be used upon all aSdS^ol^t. 
Sundays and holy-days, but especially when the 



89 Const. Ap. L 8, c. 5. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, L 22, c. 8. Concil. Vasense 1, Can. 
9, torn. iii. col. 1459, A. Concil. 6, Constant. Can. 19, torn. vi. col. 1151, C. 



272 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vx 



Lord's Supper was to be administered. For by a pious and 
practical discourse suited to the holy Communion, the minds 
of the hearers are put into a devout frame, and made much 
fitter for the succeeding mysteries. 

Formerly per- §• ^" This P rovmc e indeed, in ancient times, 
formed by bi- was generally undertaken by the bishops, who at 
shops ' first voluntarily, and afterwards by injunction, 

preached every Sunday, unless hindered by sickness: 40 but 
however, in the absence of the bishop, this duty was perform- 
ed by presbyters, and by his permission in his presence. 41 

§. 3. The reason of its being ordered here, is 
m heref red because the first design of them was to explain 
some part of the foregoing Epistle and Gospel, 42 
in imitation of that practice of the Jews mentioned in Nehe- 
miah viii. 8. For which reason they were formerly called 
Postillis, {quasi post ilia, sc. Evangelia,) because they fol- 
lowed the Gospel. 

of the Homilies §* ^' Homilies mentioned in the rubric, 
are two books of plain sermons, (for so the word 
signifies,) set out by public authority, one whereof is to be 
read upon any Sunday or holy-day, when there is no sermon. 
The first volume of them was set out in the beginning of king 
Edward VI. 's reign, having been composed (as it is thought) 
by archbishop Cranmer, bishop Ridley, and Latimer, at the 
beginning of the Reformation, when a competent number of 
Ministers, of sufficient abilities to preach in a public congre- 
gation, was not to be found. The second volume was set out 
in queen Elizabeth's time, by order of Convocation, A. D. 
1563. And that this is not at all contrary to the practice of 
the ancient Church, is evident from the testimony of Sixtus 
Sinensis, who, in the fourth book of his Library, saith, " That 
our countryman Alcuinus collected and reduced into order, 
by the command of Charles the Great, the homilies of the 
most famous doctors of the Church upon the Gospels, which 
were read in churches all the year round." He says they 
were all in number 209 : but where that work lies hid, is not 
known. 

Bidding of pray- §• 5 - 1 designed in this place to have added a 
ers enjoined by paragraph concerning the form of Bidding of 
the church. p rayerSi w hi c h the Church enjoins, by the fifty- 

40 Can. 19, Trull. Mogun. cap. 25. 41 Possid. in Vit. August. 42 Vid. August. 
Sermones de Temp. 



SECT. X.] 



THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



273 



fifth canon, to be used by every Minister ~before his Sermon, 
Lecture, or Homily : and from thence to have taken occa- 
sion to have hinted at the irregularity and ill consequences of 
the Petitionary Form, which is no w the general practice. But 
finding it necessary to be more particular than I at first fore- 
saw, if I proposed to give any tolerable satisfaction ; the design 
immediately swelled into too large a compass to be inserted in 
a work of so general a nature. For this reason I have chosen 
to publish it in a little treatise by itself : by which means too 
I hope it will be more known, than if it had only been treated 
of in a few pages here. For the sake of those who may be 
desirous to look into the question, I have inserted the title at 
the bottom of the page, 43 not without hopes that my sincere 
endeavours may contribute a little to put a stop to the custom 
of praying in the pulpit, which the reader will there see has 
once been attended with fatal consequences, and which has 
been discountenanced and prohibited almost in every reign, 
since the Eeformation, by our governors and superiors both in 
Church and State. 

Sect. X. — Of the Offertory, or Sentences, and the Rubrics that follow* 

After the confession of our faith in the Ni- 
cene Creed, or else after the improvement of it ^J^^futy. 
in the Sermon or Homily, follows the exercise of 
our charity, without which our faith would he dead. a Tbe 
first way of expressing which, is by dedicating some part of 
what God has given us to his use and service, which is fre- 
quently and strictly commanded in the Gospel, hath the best 
examples for it, and the largest rewards promised to it ; being 
instead of all the vast oblations and costly sacrifices which the 
Jews did always join with their prayers, and the only charge- 
able duty to which Christians are obliged. It is, in a word r 
so necessary to recommend our prayers, that St. Paul pre- 
scribes, 45 and the ancient Church, in Justin Martyr's time, 
used to have collections every Sunday. 46 

However, wiien we receive the Sacrament, it is by no means 

43 Bidding of Prayer before Sermon, no mark of disaffection to the present govern- 
ment : or, an historical vindication of the fifty -fifth canon. Shewing that the form of 
Bidding Prayers has been prescribed and enjoined ever since the Reformation, and. 
constantly practised by the greatest divines of our Church ; and that it has been lately 
enforced both by his present Majesty, and our right reverend diocesan the lord bishop 
of London. By Charles Wheatly, M. A., Lecturer of Saint Mildred's in the Poultry. 
London : printed for A. Bettesworth, at the Red Lion, and M. Smith, at Bishop Beve- 
ridge's Head in Pater-noster Row. Price 1*. 44 James ii. 1 7. 43 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, 
<6 Just. Martyr. Apol. 1, c. 88, p. 132. 

T 



274 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi. 



to be omitted. When the Jews came before the Lord at the 
solemn feasts, they were not allowed to appear empty ; hut 
every man was required to give as he was able, according to 
the blessing of the Lord, which he had given him.-' 1 And our 
Saviour (with respect, no doubt, to the holy table, as Mr. 
Mede excellently proves 48 ) supposes that we should never 
come to the altar without a gift, i9 but always imitate his prac- 
tice, whose custom of giving alms at the passover made his 
disciples mistake his words to him that bare the bag. 50 And 
it is very probable that at the time of receiving the Sacrament 
were all those large donations of houses, lands, and money 
made. 51 For when those first converts were all united to 
Christ and one another in this feast of love, their very souls 
were mingled; they cheerfully renounced their property, and 
easily distributed their goods among those to whom they had 
given their hearts before. None (of ability) were allowed to 
receive without giving something; 52 and to reject any man's 
offering, was to deny him a share in the benefit of those com- 
fortable mysteries. 53 

§. 2. Wherefore, to stir us up more effectually 
Th Sentences. tlie *° mi itate their pious example, as soon as the 
Sermon or Homily is ended, the Priest is direct- 
ed to return to the Lord's Table, and begin the Offertory, 
saying one or more of the sentences following, as he thinketh 
most convenient in his discretion, i. e. according to the length 
or shortness of the time that the people are offering, as it was 
worded in king Edward's first Common Prayer, and from 
thence in the Scotch one.* These are in the place of the an- 
tiphona or anthem which we find in the old Liturgies after 
the Gospel, and which, from their being sung whilst the peo- 
ple made their oblations at the altar, were called 
myC t a oJy doffer " offertory. 5 ' The sentences which our Church 
has here selected for that purpose are such as 
contain instructions, injunctions, and exhortations to this 
great duty; setting before us the necessity of performing it, 

* In the Scotch Liturgy, ^Matt. v. 16. Matt. vii. 12. Luke xix. 8. Galat. vi. 10. 1 Tim. 
vi. 7. 1 John iii. 17. with all that follows in our book, are omitted : and Gen. iv. 3, to the 
middle of the 5th verse, Exod. xxv. 2. Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 1 Chron. xxix. 10, 11, and part 
of the 12th, 14th, and the 17th verses ; Psalm xcvi. 8. Matt. xii. 41, 42, 43, 44, are added. 

47 Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 48 Mr. Mede of the Altar or holy Table, sect. 2, p. 390. 
49 Matt. v. 23, 24. 50 John xiii. 29. 5i Acts ii. 44, 45, 46. 52 Cyprian, de Oper. 
et Eleemos. p. 203, &c. 53 Concil. Elib. Can. 28, torn. i. col. 973, E. Concil. Cartha^. 
4, Can. 93, 94, torn. ii. col. 1207, B. 54 Vide Menard, in Greg. Sacrament, p. 582, Pa- 
ris. 1642. Vide et Mabillon de Liturgia Gallicana, p. 8, Paris. 1GS5. 



SECT. X.] 



THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



275 



and the manner of doing it. Some of them (viz. those from 
the sixth to the tenth inclusively, unless the ninth be except- 
ed) respect the clergy. And it was with an eye, Ahns and ot ^ er 
I suppose, to this difference, that in the last re- devotions, how 
view there was a distinction made in the rubric distm §' uisned - 
that follows these sentences, between the alms for the poor, 
and the other devotions of the people. In the old Common 
Prayer there was only mention made of the latter of these, 
viz. the devotions of the people, by which alms for the poor 
were then meant, as appears from its being then ordered to 
be put into the poor man's box. But then the clergy were 
included in other words, which ordered, that upon the offer- 
ing-days appointed, every man and woman should pay to the 
Curate the due and accustomed offerings. But of this I 
shall have occasion to say more, when I come to treat of the 
rubrics at the end of this office. I shall only observe further 
here, that the words alms for the poor being added at the 
last review, by which undoubtedly must be understood all 
that is given for their relief ; it is plain, that by the other de- 
votions of the people is now intended something distinct from 
the said alms. And if so, then the offerings for the clergy, or 
their share in the collections, must certainly be meant, as is 
plain from the design of the above-mentioned sentences, which 
have a direct and immediate regard to them. It is well known, 
that in the primitive times the clergy had a liberal mainten- 
ance out of what the people offered upon these occasions. 55 
Now, indeed, whilst they have a stated and legal income, the 
money collected at these times is generally appropriated to the 
poor : not but that where the stated income of a parish is not 
sufficient to maintain the clergy belonging to the Church, 
they have still a right to claim their share in these offerings. 

II. Whilst these sentences are in reading, 
the deacons, church-wardens, or other jit 'per- Ey c ^iiecte t d. l3e 
sons, are to receive the alms for the poor, and 
other devotions of the peopled The deacons are the most 
proper persons for this business, it being the very office for 
which their order was instituted. 57 And for this reason the 
Scotch Liturgy does not allow the church- 
wardens to do it, but at such times when there A "™™Y r hat 
are no deacons present.* It is now indeed grown 

* Whilst the presbyter distinctly pronounceth some or all of these sentences for tha 
55 Cypr. Ep. 34, 36. *> 6 Rubric after the Sentences. 57 Acts vi. 

T 2 



276 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [ceap. vi. 



a custom with us for the church-wardens to perform this office, 
viz. to gather the alms and devotions of the congregation, 
which, by all the books before the Scotch Liturgy, they were 
ordered, as I have observed, to put into the poor man's box 
not, I presume, into that fixed in the church, but into a little 
box which the church-wardens or some other proper persons 
carried about with them in their hands, as is still the custom 
at the Temple church in London. Now indeed they are or- 
dered to make use of a decent basin to be provided by the 
priest for that purpose. With which, in most places, espe- 
cially here in town, they go to the several seats and pews of 
the congregation. Though in other places they collect at the 
entrance into the chancel, where the people make their offer- 
ings as they draw towards the altar. This last way seems the 
most conformable to the practice of the primitive Church, which, 
in pursuance of a text delivered by our Saviour, 58 ordered that 
the people should come up to the rails of the altar, and there 
make their offerings to the priest. 59 

And with an eye, I suppose, to this practice, the deacons, 
or church-wardens, or whosoever they be that collect the 
alms and other devotions of the people, are ordered by the 
present rubric to bring it reverently to the priest (as in their 
name) who is humbly to present and place it upon the holy 
table ; * in conformity to the practice of the ancient Jews, 
who, when they brought their gifts and sacrifices to the 
temple, offered them to God by the hands of the priest. 

III. And if there be a Communion, the priest 

Vine, when and ** t ^ ien a ^ S0 t0 P^ ace U P on ta °^ e SO milch 

by whom to be bread and wine as he shall think sufficient. 
placed on the Which rubric being added to our own Liturgy 
at the same time with the word oblations, in 
the prayer following, (i. e. at the last review,) it is clearly 
evident, as bishop Patrick has observed, 60 that by that word 
are to be understood the elements of bread and wine, which 
the priest is to offer solemnly to God, as an acknowledgment 
of his sovereignty over his creatures, and that from thence- 

offertory, the deacon, or (if no such be present) one of the church-wardens, shall receive 
the devotions of the people there present in a basin provided for that purpose. Scotch 
Liturgy. 

* In the Scotch Liturgy, " And when all have offered, he shall reverently bring the 
basin with the oblations therein, and deliver it to the presbyter, who shall humbly 
present it before the Lord, and set it upon the holy table." 

Matt. v. 23. 59 Greg. Naz. in Laud. Basilii, Orat. 20, torn. i. Theodoret. do 
Theodosio. 60 Christian Sacrifice, p. 77. 



sbct. x.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



277 



forth they might become properly and peculiarly his. For in 
all the Jewish sacrifices, of which the people were partakers, 
the viands or materials of the feast were first made God's by 
a solemn oblation, and then afterwards eaten by the commu- 
nicants, not as man's, but as God's provision ; who, by thus 
entertaining them at his own table, declared himself recon- 
ciled and again in covenant with them. And therefore our 
blessed Saviour, when he instituted the new sacrifice of his 
own body and blood, first gave thanks and blessed the ele- 
ments, i. e. offered them up to God as Lord of the creatures, 
as the most ancient Fathers expound that passage : who, for 
that reason, whenever they celebrated the holy eucharist, 
always offered the bread and wine for the Communion to 
God, upon the altar, by this, or some such short ejaculation, 
Lord, roe offer thee thy own, out of what thou hast boun- 
tifully given us. 61 After which they received them, as it were, 
from him again, in order to convert them into the sacred 
banquet of the body and blood of his dear Son. 62 In the an- 
cient Church, they had generally a side-table near the altar, 
upon which the elements were laid till the first part of the 
Communion service was over, at which the catechumens were 
allowed to be present ; but when they were gone, the ele- 
ments were removed and placed upon the holy altar itself, 
with a solemn prayer. 63 Now though we have no side-table 
authorized by our Church, yet in the first Common Prayer of 
king Edw T ard VI. the priest himself was ordered in this place 
to set both the bread and wine upon the altar :* but at the 
review in 1551, this and several other such ancient usages 
were thrown out, I suppose, at the instance of Bucer and 
Martyr. After which the Scotch Liturgy was the first where- 
in we find it restored : but there the presbyter is directed to 
offer up and place the bread and ivine prepared for the Sacra- 
ment upon the Lord's table, that it may be ready for that service. 
And Mr. Mede, having observed our own Liturgy to be de- 
fective in this particular, 64 was probably the occasion, that, in 

* The -whole rubric in king Edward's first book was this : " Then shall the Minister 
take so much bread and wine as shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the 
holy Communion, laying the bread upon the corporas, or else in the paten, or in some 
ether comely thing prepared for that purpose : and putting the wine into the chalice, or 
else in some fair and convenient cup, prepared for that use, (if the chalice will not serve,) 
putting thereto a little pure and clean water j and setting both the bread and wine 
upon the altar," &c. 

fil See St. Chrysostom's and other Liturgies. 62 See this proved in Mr. Mede's 
Christian Sacrifice, c. 8, p. 372, &c. w Lit . Chrys . 64 Mr . M ede, as above, p. 375, 376. 



278 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



the review of it after the Restoration, this primitive practice 
was restored, and the bread and wine ordered by the rubric to 
be set solemnly upon the table by the Priest himself. From 
whence it appears, that the placing the elements upon the 
Lord's table, before the beginning of morning prayer, by the 
hands of a clerk or sexton, (as is now the general practice,) 
is a profane and shameful breach of the aforesaid rubric ; and 
consequently that it is the duty of every Minister to prevent 
it for the future, and reverently to place the bread and wine 
himself upon the table, immediately after he has placed on 
the alms. 

Mixing water In tne ruDric I' have given, out of king 

with the wine, a Ed ward's first Liturgy, the Minister, when he 
SbjS^s- P ut tne wine into tne chalice, was directed by the 
sentiai to the rubric to put thereto a little pure and clean wa- 
acramen . , ^ This was ordered in conformity to a very 
ancient and primitive practice, and with an eye perhaps to our 
Saviour's institution. For the wine among the Jews being- 
very strong, it was generally their custom, as at their ordinary 
meals, so also at the passover, to qualify it with water : 65 and 
therefore, since the cup which our Saviour blessed was proba- 
bly one of those which were prepared for that feast, 66 some 
have concluded that, at the time of the institution, he made 
use of wine in which water had been mixed. But of this they 
can produce no certainty of proof. For though it is allowed 
that the Jews often mingled their wine, yet it does not appear 
that they always did so, or thought it necessary. For Dr. 
Lightfoot observes, that he that drank pure wine performed 
his duty ,- 67 and Buxtorf adds further, that it was indifferent 
whether it was mixed or not, and that they drank it sometimes 
one way and sometimes the other : 68 so that we must not af- 
firm that our Saviour's cup was certainly mixed, before we are 
assured whether the wine which he had prepared for his last 
passover was so. Our Saviour intimates, that what he had 
delivered to his Apostles was the fruit of the vine ,- 69 and Dr. 
Lightfoot observes, from the Babylonish Talmud, that this was 
a term which the Jews used in their blessing for wine mixed 
with water, to distinguish it from pure wine, which they called 

65 R. Oh. de'Bartenora, et Maimonides in Mishnam, de Benedict, cap. 7, sect. 5. 

66 Dr. Lightfoot's Temple-Service, vol. i. p. 966, and hishop Hooper of Lent, part 2, 
chap. 3. 67 Lightfoot, ut supra, p. 691, et Hor. Hebr. in Matt. xxvi. 27, vol. ii. p. 160. 
cs De Primae Ccena? Ritibus et Forma, sect. 20, as cited by Mr. Drake in his Latin Ser- 
mon. 69 Matt. xxvi. 29. 



sect, x.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 279 



the fruit of the tree™ But now, not to insist upon the ab- 
surdity of calling it the fruit of the vine, from its being mixed 
with water, which makes it less the fruit of the vine than it 
was in its purity ; it is plain that this expression, wherever we 
meet with it in other places of Scripture, is used to denote the 
pure product of the tree. 71 From whence we may be assured, 
that in the time of our Saviour, no such distinction as this had 
obtained: nor indeed does the Mishna itself allow of it: for 
the determination of the wise men is, that wine is to be called 
the fruit of the vine, as well before the mixture as after it. 73 
And the reason why they give it a particular blessing, calling 
it the fruit of the vine, instead of the fruit of the tree, is not 
upon the account of its being mixed with water, but because 
the vine is more excellent than any tree besides. 73 And if this 
distinction fail, I do not know that there is so much as a hint 
given in Scripture, from whence we may judge whether the 
wine used by our Saviour was mixed or not ; which yet we 
might reasonably expect to have found, if our Lord had de- 
signed the mixture as essential. Though were it ever so clear, 
that the cup was mixed ; yet if it does not also appear that it 
was mixed with design, our Saviour's practice would no more 
oblige us to mix it now, than it would that we should conse- 
crate unleavened bread. For it is certain that our Saviour, at 
the time of institution, used unleavened bread : 74 and yet since 
the reason of his doing so was, because there was no other at 
that time in the house ; our Church thinks it sufficient, in her 
present rubric, to prescribe such bread as is usual to be eaten. 
Consequently since he made use of wine that was mixed, only 
because he found it ready prepared, or at most because the 
strength of the wine used in that country required it ; there- 
fore our Church thinks it not necessary to mix it with us, be- 
cause we ordinarily drink it pure. But I say this upon sup- 
position that it could be clearly proved that the cup which our 
Saviour used was mixed ; whereas I have shewn that there is 
no intimation in Scripture about it. Nor do any of the first 
Fathers assert or mention it. Origen (who is the first that 
speaks either one way or the other) says, that our Saviour 
administered in wine unmixed, 75 which he would not sure have 

70 Hor. Hebr. ut supra. 71 Isa. xxxii. 12. Hab.iii. 17. Zech.viii. 12. secundum 
LXX. Markxii. 2. Luke xx. 10. Vide et Vorstium de Hebraismis N. T. c. 23. 

"Tract, de Benedict, cap. 7, sect. 5, vid. et R. Ob. de Bartenora, ac Maimon. in locum. 
73 Ibid. cap. 6, vide et Surenhus. et R. Ob. de Bart, in locum. 74 Exod. xii. 15, 19. 
Matt. xxvi. 17. Mark xvi. 12. Luke xxii. 7. 75 Horn. 12, in Hieremiam. 



280 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi. 



done, had there been any certain tradition, or so much as a 
general opinion, to the contrary. We do not indeed deny, but 
that, before his time, the mixture was the general practice of 
the Church : 76 but then it is no where said, that this was done 
in conformity to our Saviour's institution; but since the same 
wine, perhaps, that was prepared for the Communion, served 
also for the love-feasts, (which, in the first ages of the Church, 
were always held at the same time, 77 ) water might be mixed 
with it, for what we know, to prevent those disorders, which, 
even in the Apostles' time, were apt to arise from their drink- 
ing of it to excess : 78 or possibly it might be instituted as an 
emblem of the indissoluble union between Christ and his 
Church, as St. Cyprian explains it ; 79 or, lastly, (as is asserted 
by some other of the ancients,) to be more expressive and sig- 
nificant of that blood and water which flowed from our Sa- 
viour's side, when he was pierced upon the cross. 80 St. Cy- 
prian indeed pleads strenuously for the mixture, and urges it 
from the practice and example of our Lord ; 81 but then it is to 
be observed, that he is arguing against those who used water 
alone, (for fear the heathens should discover them by the 
smell of the wine,) and therefore might insist upon the mix- 
ture as necessary, because otherwise the wine was the part 
that was wanting ; which he plainly enough allows to be the 
only essential in the cup, when he asserts that wine alone 
would be better than pure water. 83 For if both of them were 
essential, neither of them could be said to be better than the 
other. And for the same reason it is, that some other Fathers 
and Councils enjoin the mixture so strictly, viz. because the 
Encratites and others, who looked upon wine and flesh to be 
forbidden, would administer the cup in the sacrament of the 
eucharist, with pure water alone. 83 Though it is true the 
Armenians, who administered in pure wine alone, are equally 
condemned by the Council in Trullo, 84 who produce the au- 
thority of St. James's and St. Basil's Liturgies against them : 
to which may be added, the Liturgies under the name of St. 

76 Just. Mart. Apol. 1, cap. 85, p. 125, 128. Iren. 1. 4, cap. 57, p. 357, et 1. 5, cap. 2, p. 
397. Clem. Alex. Paedag. 1. 2, cap. 2. 77 1 Cor. xi. Jude 12. Ignat. ad Smyrn. §. 8. 
p. 5. Clem. Alex. Paedag. 1. 2, cap. 1. Tertull. Apol. cap. 39. Const. Ap. 1. 2, cap. 28. 
78 1 Cor. xi. 7 9 Ad Caecil. Ep. 63, p. 148, &c. sj Ambros. de Sacr. 1. 5, cap. 1. 
Gennad. de Eccles. Dogm. c. 75. Theophylact. in Johan. xix. 34. Martin Bracar. 
Collect. Canon, cap. 55. 81 Cypr. ut supra. 82 Sacramentum rei illius admonere et 
instruere nos debet, ut in sacrifices Dominicis Vinum potius offeramus. Ibid. 

83 Epiphan. Haer. 46, torn. i. p. 392. Aug. de Haeres. cap. 64. Theodoret. de FabulLs 
Haereticor. 1. 1, c. 20, torn. 4, p. 20S. 84 Can. 32, torn. 6, col. 1156, 1157. 



sect, xi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



251 



Mark and St. Chrvsostom, and that which is contained in the 
eighth book of the Constitution. 85 And indeed it must be 
confessed, that the mixture has, in all ages, been the general 
practice, and for that reason was enjoined, as has been noted 
above, to be continued in our own Church, by the first re- 
formers. And though in the next review the order for it was 
omitted, yet the practice of it was continued in the king's 
chapel royal, all the time that bishop Andrews was dean of 
it ; 86 who also in the form that he drew up for the consecration 
of a church, kc, expressly directs and orders it to be used. 87 
How it came to be neglected in the review of our Liturgy in 
king Edward's reign, I have not yet been able to discover. I 
am apt to suspect that it was thrown out upon some objection 
of Calvin or Bucer, who were no friends to any practice for 
its being ancient and catholic, if it did not happen to suit with 
their fancy or humour. But whatever may have been the 
cause of laying it aside, since there is no reason to believe it 
essential ; and since every Church has liberty to determine 
for herself in things not essential ; it must be an argument 
sure of a very indiscreet and over-hasty zeal, to urge the 
omission of it as a ground for separation. 

Sect. XI. — Of the Prayer for the whole State of Chris fs Church. 
The alms, and devotions, and oblations of the 
people being now presented to God, and placed H u^| SSe^ 7 
before him upon the holy table ; it is a proper 
time to proceed to the exercise of another branch of our 
charity, I mean that of intercession. Our alms perhaps are 
confined to a few indigent neighbours ; but our prayers may 
extend to all mankind, by recommending them all to the 
mercies of God, who is able to supply and relieve them all. 
Xor can we at anytime hope to intercede more effectually for 
the whole Church of God, than just when we are about to 
represent and shew forth to the divine Majesty that meritori- 
ous sacrifice, by virtue whereof our great High Priest did 
once redeem us, and for ever continues to intercede for us in 
heaven. For which reason we find that the ancient and 
primitive Christians, whenever they celebrated these holy 
mysteries, used a form of intercession for the whole catholic 

S3 Cap. 12. ss See the primitive Rule of Reformation, according to the first Li- 
turgy of king Ed-ward VI., page 20, printed in quarto, 16S8. 57 Sparrow's Collection, 
595, 396. 



282 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. VI. 



Church. 88 But there is this difference between our practice 
and theirs, that whereas we use it immediately after the placing 
the elements upon the table ; it is in all the ancient Litur- 
gies, except in St. Mark's and the Ethiopian, deferred till 
after the consecration. 

„ , .. §. 2. In the primitive Church too their prayers 

Prayers for the a £ . t J 

dead an ancient were more extensive, and took in the dead as 

pmctke! 10110 Wel1 aS the livin g : n0t tDat the y had an 7 notion 

of the Romish purgatory, or so much as imagined 
that those whom they prayed for were racked or tormented 
with any temporary pain. There were some of the ancients, 
it is true, who believed (and it seems to have been the cur- 
rent opinion from Origen downwards) that the trial we shall 
undergo at the last great day will be a state of purgation ; 
which they imagined to consist of a probational fire, through 
which all must pass, (even the prophets and apostles, and the 
Virgin Mary herself not excepted,) and which shall differently 
affect us, as we shall be differently prepared : 89 and upon this 
perhaps some of them might found the prayers they used for 
the departed saints. Others again believed that Christ should 
reign a thousand years upon earth, before the final day of 
judgment ; and also supposed that the saints should rise to 
enjoy and partake of this happy state, before the general re- 
surrection of the dead : 90 and therefore they prayed for the 
souls of the deceased, that they might not only rest in peace 
for the present, but also obtain part in the first resurrection. 91 
However they all agreed in this, that the interval between 
death and the end of the world is a state of expectation and 
imperfect bliss, in -which the souls of the righteous wait for 
the completion and perfection of their happiness at the con- 
summation of all things : and therefore, whilst they were 
praying for the catholic Church, they thought it not improper 

83 Chrys. Liturg. et Horn. 52, in Eustath. et Horn. 26, in Mat. et Horn. 37, in Act. et 
de Sacerdot. 1. 6, c. 4. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5, n. 6. Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 12. 

83 Origen. in Exod. xv. Horn. 6, et in Psalm xxxvi. Horn. 3. Lactant. Institut. 1. 7, 
c. 21, p. 653. Basil, in Isa. iv. 4, torn; i. p. 932. Greg. Nyss. de Mortuis Orat. torn, 
iii. p. 638. Greg. Naz. Orat. 39, torn. i. p. 636. Ambros. Enarrat. in Psalm xxxvi. 
§. 26, torn. i. col. 789, 790, et in Psalm cxviii. Serm. 3, §. 14—17, torn. i. col. 997, 998, 
et Serm. 20, col. 1225, 1226, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1686. Hieron. in Mai. iii. torn. iii. 
col. 1825, et 1. 1, adv. Pelag. torn. iv. col. 502, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1704. Aug. Re- 
spons. ad Quaest. 1. Dulcit. torn. vi. col. 121, 126, 128, et Enchirid. de Fide, Spe, et 
Charitate, cap. 67, 6S, 69, in torn. eod. col. 221, 222, et de Civ. Dei, 1. 20, c. 25, torn, 
vii. col. 609, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1685. Consule etiam Estium in 1 Cor. iii. 13. 

90 St. Barnabas, c. 15. Just. Mart. Trypbo, p. 306, &c. Irenasus, 1. 5, c. 30, 31, 32, 
&c. Tertull. adv. Marcion. 1. 3, c. 24. Lactant. Institut. 1. 7, c. 14, 15, 24, &c. 

91 Tertull. de Monogam. c. 10. Ambros. de Obitu Valentin, ad finem, et in Psalm i. 



sect. XI.] THE LOHD'SISUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



283 



to add a petition in behalf of that larger and better part of it 
which had gone before them, that they might all together at- 
tain a blessed and glorious resurrection, and be brought at 
last to a perfect fruition of happiness in heaven. 92 By this 
means they testified their love and respect to the dead, de- 
clared their belief in the communion of saints, and kept up in 
themselves a lively sense of the soul's immortality. And with 
this intent a petition for the deceased was continued by our 
reformers, in this very prayer of which we are now discours- 
ing, in the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. 
But this, with a larger thanksgiving for the examples of the 
saints,* than what we now use, was left out of the second book, 
upon the exceptions of Bucer 93 and Calvin, 94 and the words, 
militant here on earth, were added to the exhortation, Let us 
vray for the whole state of Clirisfs Church, in order to limit 
the prayer to the living only. The substance of the thanks- 
giving indeed was added again afterwards, first to the Scotch 
Liturgy, and then to our own at the last review : though that 
in the 'Scotch Liturgy f keeps closest to the words in the first 

» In the Common Prayer of 1549, the words, "all Christian Kings, Princes, and 
Governors," were not inserted, nor the words, "and especially to this Congregation 
here present." But after the petition for those that are " in trouble, sorrow, need, sick- 
ness, or any other adversity," the prayer went on thus : " And especially we commend 
unto thy merciful goodness, the Congregation which is here assembled in thy name, to 
celebrate the commemoration of the most glorious death of thy Son. And here we do 
give unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks, for the wonderful grace and virtue 
declared in all thy Saints, from the beginning of the world, and chiefly in the glorious 
and most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and 
in the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Mart3T:s, whose examples (O Lord) and 
stedfastness in thy faith, and keeping thy holy Commandments, grant us to follow. We 
commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all other thy servants which are departed hence 
from us, with the sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace : Grant unto them, 
we beseech thee, thy mercy and everlasting peace, and that at the day of the general 
Resurrection, we and all they which be of the mystical body of thy Son, may altogether 
be set on his right hand, and hear that his most joyful voice, Come unto me, O ye that 
be blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom which is prepared for you from the 
beginning of the world. Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Medi- 
ator and Advocate." 

t " And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace, that with meek heart and 
due reverence, they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee ^ hen ., 
in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. [And we commend conunu" 
especially unto thy merciful goodness the congregation which is here assem- n ion, these 
bled in thy name, to celebrate the commemoration of the most precious death words thus 
of thy Son, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.]" Then the petition for all in ad- [^areto 
versity: after which as follows: " And we also bless thy holy name for all be left out 
those thy servants, who having finished their course in faith do now rest from 

- 92 Tertull. ut supra, et de Coron. Mil. c. 3, 4, et Exhortat. ad Castitat. c. 11. Cypr. Ep. 
1, et 55. Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. 4, c. 71. Arnob. adv. Gentes sub fine, 1. 4. Cyril. 
Catech. Mystag. 5. Ambros. ut supra. Epiphan. Haer. 75. Aerian. n. 7. Chrysost. de 
Sacerdot. lib. 6, cap. 4, et in Moral. Horn. 3, in Ep. ad Philip, et Horn. 41, in 1 Cor. 
Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis gerenda, c. 4, et Confess. 1. 9, c. 13, et Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 
41, 42, 43. 9 3 Script. Anglican, p. 467, 468. 9 * Epistola ad Bucerum, as cited in 
A Coal from the Altar, page 38. 



284 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF. [chap. vi. 



book of king Edward. And though the direct petition for the 
faithful departed is still discontinued, yet, were it not for the 
restriction of the words, militant here on earth, they might be 
supposed to be implied in our present form, when we beg of 
God that we with them may be partakers of his heavenly 
kingdom. 

Sect. XII. — Of the Exhortations on the Sunday or Holy -day 
before the Communion. 
Great mysteries ought to be ushered in with 

Due preparation .i n ... o . /~i j 

necessary to the the solemnities of a great preparation : God gave 
-rament g the Sa " ^ e I srae ^ tes tnree days' warning of his design to 

publish the Law, 95 and ordered their festivals to 
be proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet some time before. 96 
The Paschal Lamb (the type of Christ in this sacrament) was 
to be chosen and kept by them four days, to put them in mind 
of preparing for the celebration of the passover : 97 and Chris- 
tians, having more and higher duties to do in order to this holy 
feast, ought not to have less time or shorter warning. Where- 
fore, as good Hezekiah published, by particular expresses, his 
intended passover long before ; 98 so hath our Church prudently 
ordered timely notice to be given, that none might pretend to 
.stay away out of ignorance of the time, or unfitness for the 
■duty, but that all might come, and with due preparation. 

§. 2. The ancient Church indeed had no such 
tio^xhorLtions exhortations : for their daily, or at least weekly 
™ h ^e^rimitive communions, made it known that there was then 

no solemn assembly of Christians without it ; and 
every one (not under censure) was expected to communicate. 
But now, when the time is somewhat uncertain, and our long 
•omissions have made some of us ignorant, and others forget- 
ful of this duty ; most of us unwilling, and all of us more or 
less indisposed for it; it was thought both prudent and ne- 
cessary to provide these exhortations, to be read when the 
Minister gives warning of tlie Communion, which he is always 

their labours. And we yield unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks for the won- 
derful grace and virtue declared in all thy servants, who have been the choice vessels 
of thy grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations : most humbly be- 
seeching thee, that we may have grace to follow the example of their stedfastness in 
thy faith, and obedience to thy holy Commandments, that at the day of the general Re- 
surrection, we, and all they which are of the mystical body of thy Son, maybe set on 
his right hand, and hear that his most joyful voice, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Grant this, O 
Eather, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen." 

* 5 Exod. xix. 15. 9« Lev. xxv. 9. Numb. x. 2. " Exod. xii. 3, 6. °* 2 Chron. xxx. 



ssct. xii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



285 



to do, upon the Sunday or some Holy-day immediately pre- 
ceding. 

§.3. As to the composures themselves, they The usefulness 
are so extraordinary suitable, that if every com- of these com- 
municant would duly weigh and consider them, P 01 ^ 8, 
they would be no small help towards a due preparation. The 
first contains proper exhortations and instructions how to pre- 
pare ourselves : the latter is more urgent, and applicable to 
those who generally turn their backs upon those holy myste- 
ries, and shews the danger of those vain and frivolous excuses 
which men frequently make for their staying away. For 
which reason it is appointed by the rubric to be used instead 
of the former, whenever the Minister shall observe that the 
people are negligent to come* 

* In the Common Prayer of 1549, only the first of these exhortations -was inserted, 
and that pretty different from our present one in -words, though much the same in 
sense : it was a little enlarged towards the conclusion in relation to auricular and se- 
cret confessions, which I shall have another occasion to take notice of hereafter." And 
in that hook it was designed, as now, to he read on some day hefore the Communion 
to which the people were to he exhorted. The second exhortation was not added till 
1552. And then it was appointed to he used at the Communion-time (immediately after 
the 'prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church) " at certain times when the Curate 
should see the people negligent to come to the holy Communion." And therefore it Be- 
gan, " We he come together at this time (dearly heloved "brethren) to feed at the Lord's 
Supper; unto the which, in God's hebalf, I hid you all that are here present," and so 
on as in the present form, till after the words — " how severe punishment hangeth over 
your heads for the same" — it went on thus, to reprove a custom, which it seems then 
prevailed, of some people's standing gazing in the church (whilst others communicated) 
without receiving. " And whereas ye offend God so sore in refusing this holy banquet, 
I admonish, exhort, and beseech you, that unto this unkindness ye will not add any 
more. Which thing ye shall do, if ye stand by as gazers and lookers on them that com- 
municate, and be not partakers of the same yourselves. For what thing can this be 
accounted else, than a further contempt and unkindness unto God ? Truly it is a great 
unthankfulness to say, Is ay, when ye be called; but the fault is much greater when 
men stand by, and yet will neither eat nor drink the holy Communion with others. I 
pray you, what can this be else, but even to have the mysteries of Christ in derision ? 
It is said unto all, Take ye and eat ; take and drink ye all of this ; do this in remem- 
brance of me. With what face then, or with what countenance shall ye hear these 
words ? What will this be else but a neglecting, a despising and mocking of the testa- 
ment of Christ ? Wherefore rather than ye should do so, depart ye hence, and give 
place to them that be godly disposed. But when you depart, I beseech you, ponder 
with yourselves from whence ye depart. Ye depart from the Lord's table, ye depart 
from your brethren, and from the banquet of most heavenly food. These things if ye 
earnestly consider, ye shall by God's grace return to a better mind; for the obtaining 
whereof we shall make our humble petitions while we shall receive the holy Commu- 
nion." And thus stood this form till the restoration of king Charles II., during all 
which time that which is in our present book the first exhortation, stood the second in 
the old books, as being " sometimes also to be said at the discretion of the Curate." 
But in 1662, they were both somewhat altered and transposed, and adapted to be used 
upon a Sunday or Holy-day before the Communion, which occasioned the first sentence 
to that which is at present our first exhortation to be then added. Though indeed 
they are now all of them so altered in the expression, and transposed in their order, 
that the more curious reader, that thinks the difference worth examining, must look 
into the originals ; there being no way of giving him an exact account of them here, 
hut by transcribing them at length, which will take up more room than I know how 
to allow. 

99 Chap. xi. Sect. iv. v 



236 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



How this rubric §' ^' ^ ow ruDr i c tnat orders these exhort- 
is to be reconciled ations to be read after the Sermon or Homily 
^eNice^eed. is ended, ma 7 De reconciled to the rubric that 
orders the Minister to give notice of the Commu- 
nion before Sermon, I have already shewed upon that place. 

Sect. XIII. — Of the Exhortation at the Communion. 
. . ... - The former exhortations are designed to in- 

The design of it. , ° . 

crease the numbers of the communicants, and 
this to rectify their dispositions ; that so they may be not only 
many but good. In the ancient Greek Church, besides all 
other preparatory matters, when the congregation were all 
placed in order to receive the Sacrament ; the Priest, even 
then standing on the steps to be seen of all, stretched out his 
hand, and lifted up his voice in the midst of that profound 
silence, inviting the worthy, and warning the unworthy to for- 
bear.* 100 Which if it were necessary in those blessed days, 
how much more requisite is it in our looser age, wherein men 
have learned to trample upon Church discipline, and to come 
out of fashion at set times, whether they be prepared or not ! 
Every one hopes to pass in the crowd ; but 'knowing tlie terror 
of the Lord, though the people have been exhorted before, and 
though they are now come with a purpose of communicating, 
and are even conveniently placed for the receiving of the holy 
Sacrament, yet the Priest again exhorts them in the words of 
St. Paul, diligently to try and examine themselves before they 
p'esume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup, &c.f 

* Agreeably to which, the clause in the first of our present exhortations, " Therefore 
if any of you be a blasphemer of God," &c, to the words, " body and soul," was in all 
the former books inserted in this exhortation, between the words " sundry kinds of 
death," and — " judge therefore yourselves," &c. And in the first English Communion 
Office published in the year 1547, the same clause was still more aptly appointed to be 
said after this exhortation, " to them which were ready to take the Sacrament. After 
which the Priest was to pause a while to see if any man would withdraw himself : (and 
if he perceived any so to do, he was then to commune with him privately at convenient 
leisure, and see whether he could with good exhortation bring him to grace.) After a 
little pause, the Priest was to say, Ye that do truly," &c* 

t In all the books between the first of king Edward and our present one, this ex- 
hortation was to be added to one of the others, which, as I have shewed in the pre- 
ceding note, were, during all that time, appointed to be used upon the day of Commu- 
nion. But in king Edward's first book the rubric ordered this immediately to follow 
the Sermon or Homily, i. e. "if the people were not exhorted " in the said Sermon or 
Homily itself " to the worthy receiving of the holy Sacrament :" and that too only 
where Communions were not frequent : for by the rubric that immediately follows the 
exhortation in the same book, it is allowed, that " in cathedral churches or other places 
where there is daily Communion, it shall be sufficient to read this exhortation above 
written once in a month : and that in parish churches, upon the week-days, it may be 
left unsaid." 

wo Chrysost. Horn. 27, in ix. ad Hebr. torn. iv. p. 524, 529. i Sparrow's Collection, p. 22. 



srcr. xiv.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



2S7 



§. 2. The ordering that the communicants _ „ 

, , . 7 ° 7 v , . . The Communi- 

shall be conveniently placed jor the receiving of cants when and 
the holy Sacrament, before the Minister reads pw! 6 " 
the exhortation, seems to have an eye to an old 
custom, still retained in some country churches, where the 
communicants kneel down in rows one behind another, and 
there continue till the Minister comes to them. In the first 
Common Prayer of king Edward, it is thus ordered, just after 
the Offertory or Sentences : Then so many as shall be par- 
takers of the holy Communion shall tarry still in the choir, 
the men on the one side, and the women on the other side ? 
where it may be remarked, that the separating the men from 
the women, and allotting to each sex a distinct place, was 
what was very strictly observed in the primitive Church. 2 

Sect. XIV.— Of the Invitation. 
The feast being now reaoy, and the guests pre- ^ e design of it 
pared with due instruction, the Priest (who is 
the steward of those mysteries) invites them to draw near ; 
thereby putting them in mind, that they are now invited into 
Christ's more special presence, to sit down with him at his 
own table : (and therefore I think it would be more proper if 
all the communicants were, at these words, to come from the 
more remote parts of the Church as near to the Lord's table 
as they could.) But then he adviseth them, in the words of 
the primitive Liturgies, 3 (i. e. according to our present book,) 
to draw near with faith, without which all their bodily ap- 
proaches will avail them nothing, it being only by faith that 
they can really draw near to Christ, and take this holy Sacra- 
?nent to their comfort. But seeing they cannot exercise their 
faith as they ought, until they have heartily confessed and re- 
pented of their sins ; therefore he further calls upon them to 
make their humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneel- 
ing upon their knees* 

Sect. XV. — Of the Confession. 
Besides the private confession of the closet, 
and that made to the Priest in cases of great JnfSSspE 
doubt, there was anciently a general prayer for 
forgiveness and mercy in the public service of the Church, used 

* In king Edward's first book, it was—" to Almighty God, and to bis boly Church 
here gathered together in his name, meekly kneehng," &c. In all the other old ones— 
" to Almighty God, before the congregation here gathered together in his holy name," &c. 

2 Const. Apost. L 2, c. 57. 3 ile-rd pd/iou nai 7ri<rTet0f irf-ojeXOare. Liturg. S 

Chrys. et S. Jacob. 



288 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, v 



by all the communicants when they were come to the altar. 4 
And since Christ's sufferings are here commemorated, it is 
very reasonable we should confess our sins which were the 
causes of them : and since we hope to have our pardon sealed, 
we ought first with shame and sorrow to own our transgres- 
sions, for his honour who so freely forgives them : which the 
congregation here does in words so apposite and pathetical, 
that if their repentance be answerable to the form, it is im- 
possible it should ever be more hearty and sincere.* _ 

Sect. XVI. — Of the Absolution. 

The necessity of When the discipline of the ancient Church 
it before the Sa- was in force, no notorious offender could escape 
crament. ^ e censures that his sin deserved : nor was he 

admitted to the Sacrament without a public and solemn ab- 
solution upon his repentance. But this godly discipline being 
now every where laid aside, (to the great detriment of the 
Church,) it is so much the more necessary to supply it by a 
general Confession and Absolution : of which see more upon 
the morning and evening service. 

§. 2. As to this particular form, it shall suffice 
my piace inthiS to note > that it is in imitation of that ancient form 
of blessing recorded, Numb. vi. 24, &c. And 
since it is certain that there is such a power vested in the 
Ministers of the Gospel, as to support the spirit of a dejected 
penitent, by assuring him of a pardon in the name of God; 
there can be no fitter opportunity to exercise it than now, viz. 
when so many humbled sinners are kneeling before him, and 
begging forgiveness at his hands : which therefore thus com- 
ing accordingly from a person commissionated by Christ for 
this end, ought to be received with faith and gratitude, since 
it is the only way to quiet people's consciences, now revela- 
tions are ceased. 

Sect. XVII. — Of the Sentences of Scripture. 

The advantage ^ T * s so necessar y for every one that would 
of them in this receive comfort and benefit by this blessed Sa- 
place ' crament, to have a lively faith, and a mind freed 

* In all the Common Prayer Books " this general Confession was to he made in the 
name of all those that were minded to receive the Holy Communion, either by one of 
them, or hy one of the Ministers, or by the Priest himself : " but by the Scotch Liturgy- 
it was confined "to the Presbyter himself, or the Deacon," and from thence by our 
own (upon the exception of the Presbyterians at the last review) " to one of the Min- 
isters, both he and all the people humbly kneeling upon their knees." 

* Chrys. Horn. 18. in 2 Cor. viii. torn. iii. p. 647, lin. 12, &c. 



sect xviii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



289 



from unreasonable fears ; that the Church, lest any should 
doubt of the validity of the foregoing Absolution, hath subjoin- 
ed these Sentences ; which are the very promises on which it is 
grounded, and so overflowing with sweet and powerful com- 
forts, that if duly considered they will satisfy the most fearful 
souls, heal the most broken hearts, and utterly banish the 
blackest clouds of sorrow and despair. 

Sect. XVIII. — Of the Lauds and Anthem, 

After we have exercised our charity, repent- 
ance, and faith, the next part of the office is The ^£ ity of 
thanksgiving, which is so considerable a part of 
our present duty, that it hath given name to the whole, and 
caused it to be called the Eucharist or Sacrifice of Praise. 
And here we begin with the Lauds and Anthem, which, toge- 
ther with most of the remaining part of the office, are purely 
primitive, near as old as Christianity itself, being to be found 
almost verbatim amongst the ancient writers. 5 Having there- 
fore exercised our faith upon the foregoing sentences, and so 
got above this world, we are now ready to go into the other, 
and to join with the glorified saints and angels, in praising 
and adoring that God who hath done so great things for us. 
In order to this, the Minister calls upon us to 
lift up our hearts, viz. by a most quick and Fr - ^rts. Y ° UI 
lively faith in the most high God, the supreme 
Governor of the whole world, which being ready to do, we 
immediately answer, TVe lift them up unto the 
Lord ; and so casting off all thoughts of the world, ^ ^ J* 
turn our minds to God alone. 

§. 2. And our hearts being now all elevated together, and 
in a right posture to celebrate the praises of God, the Minis- 
ter invites us all to ioin with him in doin^ it, „ T . 
saying, Let us give thanks unto our Lord, God: thanks, &c. 
which the people having consented to and ap- Ans. it is meet 
proved of, by saying, It is meet and right so to and right ' &c> 
do ; he turns himself to the Lord's table, and acknowledg« 
eth to the divine Majesty there specially present, 
that It is very meet, right, and our bounden Pr m ll^^ Y 
duty, that we should at all times, and in all 
places, give thanks, kc. 



5 Const. Apost. 1. S. 12. Ltturg. S. Jacob. S. Chrysost. S. Basil.— Cyril. Careen 
Mystag. 5. 



290 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [ceup vu 



§. 3. But this, in the primitive Church, was 
gh'fnfaiwa^ 5 " only the introduction to the ev^apiaria, properly 
used in the pri- s0 called, which was a great and lon°; thanks- 

mitive Church. . . . 3 « n ■> • • o , • 

giving to God for all his mercies of creation, 
providence, and redemption, from whence the whole service 
took the name of eucharist or thanksgiving. For in all the 
ancient Liturgies, as soon as ever the aforesaid words were 
pronounced, there was immediately subjoined a commemora- 
tion of all that God had done for man from the foundation of 
the world, and more particularly in the great and wonderful 
mystery of our redemption. And in some part or other of 
this solemn glorification, w r as always included the trisagion or 
seraphical hymn that follows next in our own Liturgy ; which 
was sung, as with us, by the Minister and whole congregation 
jointly,* after which the Minister again went on alone to 
finish the thanksgiving. We have no where else indeed so 
long a thanksgiving as that in the Constitutions ; 6 but the 
length of this is no argument against its antiquity. For Justin 
Martyr, when he describes the Christian rites and mysteries, 
says, that " as soon as the common prayers were ended, and 
they had saluted one another with a kiss, bread and wine 
was brought to him who presided over the brethren, who re- 
ceiving them, gave praise and glory to the Father of all things, 
through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and 
make evyapiarLav etti 7ro\v, a very long thanksgiving, for the 
blessings which he bestowed upon them." 7 Afterwards indeed, 
as devotion grew cold, this long doxology was contracted ; 
but still so that the two greatest blessings of God, i. e. the 
creation and redemption by Christ, together with the words 
of institution, were always set forth, and thanks given to God 
for these things. And this is supposed to have been accord- 
ing to our Saviour's own example. For the Jews at the Pass- 
over constantly commemorated their redemption from Egypt, 
their settlement in the good land which they then possessed, 
and all the other blessings which God had bestowed upon 
them: 8 and therefore it is not to be doubted but that as our 
Saviour imitated the ceremonies of the Jews in so many other 

* This is only to he understood of the latter part of it, where it begins with Holy, 
holy, holy, &c, where the chorus came in ; the former part of it being only pronounced 
by the Minister himself; and so it was used in our own Church during the lime of 
king Edward's first Liturgy. 

c L. 8, c. 12. 7 Just. Mart. Apoh 1, c. 86, p. 125, 126. Vide et Cyril. Catscli. 

ilystag. 5, n. 5. a vide Fagium in Deut. viii. 



sect, xix.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 291 



particulars of this holy Sacrament; so also, when he gave 
thanks? he used a form to the same purpose ; only adding a 
thanksgiving for the redemption of the world by his sufferings 
and death, which was probably wh?t he ordered his Apostles 
to perform, when he commanded them to do this in remem- 
brance of him, and to shew forth his death till he corned 
And accordingly we find, that all the ancient Liturgies have 
an eucharistical prayer, agreeable in all points to that de- 
scribed by Justin Martyr, (excepting in its length, to which 
that in the Constitutions only comes up,) setting forth the mer- 
cies of God in our creation and redemption, and particularly 
in the death and resurrection of his Son. The Roman Missal, 
I believe, was the first that omitted it ; and the omission of it 
there might perhaps be the occasion of its not being taken 
notice of when our own Liturgy was compiled. For the more 
solemn festivals indeed there are some short prefaces provided 
to commemorate the particular mercies of each season : but 
upon ordinary occasions (as our Liturgy stands now) we have 
no other thanksgiving than what these lauds contain. 

Sect. XIX. — Of the Trisagium. 

The Minister now looking upon himself and Therefore with 
the rest of the congregation as Communicants angels and arch- 
with the Church triumphant ; and all of us ap- an s els - 
prehending ourselves, by faith, as in the midst of that blessed 
society; we join with them in singing forth the praises of 
the most high God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saying, 
Therefore with angels, and archangels, and with all the com- 
pany of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, ever- 
more praising thee, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory, \_Hosanna in 
the highest, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, % ~\ 
Glory be to thee, Lord most high. 

§. 2. That the angels were present at the per- 
formance of divine mysteries, hath been the ^beprSentat 
opinion of both Heathens and Christians; 11 and the performance 
that they are especially present at the Lord's ^™ em yste- 
Supper, is generally received. 13 For since Jesus 

* Tlie words thus enclosed [ ] were only in the first book of king Edward. 
9 Matt. xxvi. 2G. Mark xiv. 23. Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 24. 10 Luke xxii. 19. 
1 Cor. xi. 25. H Aaiuovai eTria-KOTrovi Oeioov tepGv, nal u.vcrrriplo)v bpyiacnas, esse di- 
cit Plutarch, lib. de Orac. Angelo Orationis adhuc adstante. Tertull. de Orat. c. 12, p. 
134, B. 12 Chrys. in Ephes. i. Horn. 3, torn. iii. p. 778, 1. 30, 31. 

U 2 



292 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 



by his death hath united heaven and earth, it is fit that, in 
this commemoration of his passion, we should begin to unite 
our voices with the heavenly choir, with whom we hope to 
praise him to all eternity. For which end the Christians of 
the very first ages took this hymn into their office for the Sa- 
crament, 13 being of divine original, 14 and from the word holy 
thrice repeated in it, called by the Greeks Tpiaayiov, the Tri- 
sagium, or Thrice Holy. 

Sect. XX. — Of the proper Prefaces. 

why to be re- On tne g reater festivals there are proper pre- 
peated eight days faces appointed, which are also to be repeated, 
together. j n cage faere be a Communion, for seven days 

after the festivals themselves,* (excepting that for Whit-Sun- 
day, which is to be repeated only six days after, because 
Trinity-Sunday, which is the seventh, hath a preface peculiar 
to itself;) to the end that the mercies may be the better re- 
membered by often repetition, and also that all the people 
(who in most places cannot communicate all in one day) may 
have other opportunities, within those eight days, to join in 
praising God for such great blessings. 

Christian festi §' ^' reason of the Church's lengthening 
vaivwhy length- out these high feasts for several days, is plain: 
™ed out for se- the subject-matter of them is of so high a nature, 
and so nearly concerns our salvation, that one 
day would be too little to meditate upon them, and praise 
God for them as we ought. A bodily deliverance may justly 
require one day of thanksgiving and joy : but the deliveranc 
of the soul by the blessings commemorated on those times, 
deserves a much longer time of praise and acknowledgment. 
Since therefore it would be injurious to Christians to have 
their joy and thankfulness for such mercies confined to one 
day; the Church, upon the times when these unspeakable 
blessings were wrought for us, invites us, by her most season- 
able commands and counsels, to fill our hearts with joy and 
thankfulness, and let them overflow eight days together. 

§. 3. The reason of their being fixed to eight 
^nfdays? days, i s taken from the practice of the Jews, 
who by God's appointment observed their greater 
festivals, some of them for seven, and one, viz. the feast of 

* In king Edward's first book they vrere only appointed for the days themselves. 
13 See the note in page 291. 14 Isa. vi. 3. 



sscx. xxi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



293 



Tabernacles, for eight days. 15 And therefore the primitive 
Church, thinking that the observation of Christian festivals 
(of which the Jewish feasts were only types and shadows) 
ought not to come short of them, lengthened out their higher 
feasts to eight days. 

Though others give a quite different and mystical reason, 
viz. that as the octave or eighth day signifies Eternity, (our 
whole lives being but the repetition or revolution of seven 
days;) so the Church, by commanding us to observe these great 
feasts for eight days, (upon the last of which especially, great 
part of the solemnity is repeated which was used upon the first,) 
seems to hint to us, that if we continue the seven days of this 
mortal life in a due and constant service and worship of God ; 
we shall, upon the eighth day of eternity, return to the first 
happy state we were created in. 

§. 4. But whatever the rise of this custom was, 
we are assured that the whole eight days were The p r e e S ffJ e ? the 
very solemnly observed : on which they had al- 
ways some proper preface relating to the peculiar mercy of 
the feast they celebrated ; to the end that all, who received at 
any of those times, should, besides the general praises offered 
up for all God's mercies, make a special memorial proper to 
the festival. 

§. 5. In the Eoman Church they had ten of 
them, 16 but our reformers have only retained five Tlie Jhem. CtS ° f 
of the most ancient ; all which (except that for 
Trinity-Sunday, retained by reason of the great mystery it ce- 
lebrates) are concerning the principal acts of our Redemption, 
viz. the Nativity, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Saviour, 
and of his sending the Holy Ghost to comfort us. 

Sect. XXL— Of the Address. 
The nearer we approach to these holy myste- 
ries, the greater reverence we ought to express; ^ h f n P thE ri piace! 
for since it is out of God's mere grace and good- 
ness, that we have the honour to approach his table ; it is at 
least our duty to acknowledge it to be a free and undeserved 
favour, agreeing rather to the mercy of the giver, than to the 

^ Leviticus xxiii. 36. 16 Viz. For Low-Sunday, for Ascension-day, for Pentecost, 
for Christmas-day, for the Apparition of our Lord, for the Apostles, for the Holy Trin- 
ity, for the Cross, for the Lent-Fast, and for the Blessed Virgin. Johnson's Ecclesias- 
tical Laws, A. D. 1175, 14. Though I do not know what should he meant by the Appa* 
cition of our Lord except it he his Epiphany, or else his Transfiguration. 



294 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



deserts of the receivers. And therefore, lest our exultations 
should savour of too much confidence, we now allay them with 
this act of humility, which the Priest offers up in the name of 
all them that receive the Communion ; therein excusing his 
own and the people's unworthiness, in words taken from the 
most ancient Liturgies. 

§.2. In the Scotch Common Prayer this Ad- 
communion-of- e dress is ordered to be said just before the Min- 
fice in the Scotch [ s i eY receives : and in the same place it stands 
in the first Liturgy of king Edward. Though 
the whole Communion-office in king Edward's first book is so 
very different, as to the order of it, from what it is now, that 
there can be no shewing how it stood then, but by a particu- 
lar detail, which I shall therefore give in the margin.* The 
Scotch Liturgy is something different from this,f though either 
of them I take to be in a more primitive method than our own. 

Sect. XXII. — Of the Prayer of Consecration. 
The ancient Greeks and Romans would not taste of their 

* The beginning of the Communion-office in king Edward's first book, as far as to 
the Collect for the king, I have already given in page 262. After which it proceeds in 
this order. The Epistle ; the Gospel ; the Nicene Creed ; then the Exhortation to be 
used at the time of the Communion ; and after that stands the Exhortation to be used 
on some day before : then the Sentences ; the Lauds, Anthem, and Prefaces ; the Prayer 
for " the whole State of Christ's Church," with the Prayer of Consecration ; the Prayer 
of Oblation, (of which hereafter ;) the Lord's Prayer, with this introduction, " As our Sa- 
viour Christ hath commanded and taught us, we are bound to say, our Father." After 
which the Priest was to say, " The peace of the Lord be always witli you :" the Clerks, 
"And with thy spirit." Then the Priest, " Christ our Paschal Lamb is offered for us, 
once for all, when he bare our sins in his body on the Cross ; for he is the very Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sins of the world : wherefore let us keep a joyful and holy 
feast with the Lord." Then came the Invitation, the Confession, the Absolution, with 
the comfortable Sentences out of Scripture : after those the Prayer of Address ; imme- 
diately after which the Minister received, and distributed to the Congregation. And 
during the Communion time the Clerks were to sing, beginning as soon as the Priest 
received, " O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon 
us : O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Grant us thy peace." When 
the Communion was ended, the Clerks were to sing the Post-Communion, which con- 
sisted of the following Sentences of Scripture, which were to be "said or sung, every 
day one," viz. Matt. xvi. 24. xxiv. 13. Luke i. 68, 74, 75. xii. 43, 46, 47. John iv. 23. v. 
14. viii. 31, 32. xii. 36. xiv. 21. xv. 7. Rom. viii. 31, 32, 33, 34. xiii. 12. 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. 
ui. 16, 17. vi. 20. Ephes. v= 1, 2. This done, the Salutation passed between the Minister 
jind the People, " The Lord be with you. And with thy spirit." And then the Minis- 
ter concluded the office with the second prayer in our present Post-Communion and the 
blessing. How these several forms, or the rubrics that belong to them, differ from the 
forms that we use now, I must shew as I am treating upon the several particulars. I 
only set down the order of them here, to give the reader a general view of the whole. 

t In the Scotch Liturgy, after the prayer of Consecration follows immediately a pray- 
er of Oblation, (which is the same with the first prayer that follows the Lord's Prayer 
in our Post-Communion, beginning, " O Lord and heavenly Father," &c, but intro- 
duced with a proper introduction, which shall be given by and by.) After this prayer of 
Oblation follows the Lord's Prayer ; then comes the Address, and then the Priest re- 
ceives and administers. After all have communicated is said the prayer, " Almighty 
and everliving God," &c, and so on as in ours. 



£E=t. xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



295 



ordinary meat and drink till they had hallowed 
it by giving the first; parts of it to their gods : 17 The oi 
the Jews would not eat of their sacrifice till 
Samuel came to bless it : 13 and the primitive Christians al- 
ways began their common meals with a solemn prayer for a 
blessing : 19 a custom so universal, that it is certainly a part of 
natural religion : how much more then ought we to expect 
the prayers of the Priest over this mysterious food of our 
souls, before we eat of it ! especially since our Saviour him- 
self did not deliver this bread and wine until he had conse- 
crated them by blessing them, and giving thanks. 20 So that 
this prayer is the most ancient and essential part of the whole 
Communion-office ; and there are some who believe that the 
Apostles themselves, after a suitable introduction, used the 
latter part of it, from those words, who in the same night. 21 
kc, and it is certain that no Liturgy in the world hath altered 
that particular. 

§. 2. But besides this, there was always in- A prayer for the 
serted in the primitive forms, a particular pe- descent of the 
tition for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon JaylSby" 
the Sacramental Elements, which was also con- tn e primitive 
tinued in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI., urci * 
in very express and open terms. Hear us, merciful Fa- 
ther, ice beseech thee, and with thy Holy Spirit anal Word 
vouchsafe to bl-\-ess and sane -\-tify these thy gifts and crea- 
tures of Bread and Wine, that they may be unto us the Body 
and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, who 
in the same night, &c. This, upon the scruples of Bucer, 
(whom I am sorry I have so often occasion to name,) was 
left out at the review in the fifth of king Edward ; and the 
following sentence, which he was pleased to allow of, inserted 
in its stead ; viz. Hear us, G merciful Father, we most humbly 
beseech thee, and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of 
Bread and Wine, according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus 
Christ's holy Institution, in remembrance of his Death and Pas- 
sion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood, who 
in the same night, Sec. In these words, it is true, the sense of 
the former is still implied, and consequently by these the 
Elements are now consecrated, and so become the Body and 
Blood of our Saviour Christ. 

17 Alex, ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. v. c. 21. M 1 Samuel he. 13. 19 Tert. Apol. 
c. 39, p. 32, B. *° Matt. xxvi. 2G. 1 Cor. xi. 24. Alcuin. rie Divin. Offic. c. 39. 



296 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vr. 



To which the ^ ^ e rU ^ C m deed, a ^ er tne form of Ad- 
attributed the ministration, the Church seems to suppose that 
Si" Elements^ Consecration is made by the words of Insti- 
tution : for there it says, that if the consecrated 
Bread and Wine be all spent before all have communicated, 
the Priest is to consecrate more according to the form before 
prescribed ; beginning at [Our Saviour Christ in the same 
night, kc.~]for the blessing of the Bread ; and at [Likewise 
after supper, &c] for the blessing of the Cup. This rubric 
was added in the last review : but to what end, unless to save 
the Minister some time, does not appear. But what is very 
remarkable is, that it was taken from the Scotch Liturgy, 
which expressly calls the words of Institution the words of 
Consecration „•* though the compilers of it had restored the 
sentence that had been thrown out of king Edward's second 
Common Prayer, and united it with the clause in our pre- 
sent Liturgy,f imagining, one would think, that the Ele- 
ments were not consecrated without them. For though all 
Churches in the world have, through all ages, used the 
words of Institution at the time of Consecration ; yet none, I 
believe, except the Church of Rome, ever before attributed 
the Consecration to the bare pronouncing of those words 
only : that was always attributed, by the most ancient Fathers, 
to the prayer of the Church. 22 The Lutherans and Calvinists 
indeed both agree with the Papists, that the Consecration is 
made by the bare repeating the words of Institution; 23 the 
reason perhaps of which is because the words of Institution are 
the only words recorded by the Evangelists and St. Paul, as 
spoken by our Saviour when he administered to his disciples. 

* " To the end there may be little left, he that officiates is required to consecrate 
"with the least, and then if there be want, the words of Consecration may be repeated 
again, over more, either Bread or Wine : the Presbyter beginning at these words in 
the Prayer of Consecration, (Our Saviour in the night that he was betrayed, &c.)" 
Scotch Liturgy, in the fifth rubric at the end of the Communion-office. 

t " Hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly beseech thee, and of thy Almighty 
goodness vouchsafe so to bless and sanctify with thy Word and Holy Spirit these thy 
gifts and creatures of Bread and Wine, that they may be usto us the Body and Blood 
of thy most dearly beloved Son ; so that we receiving them according to thy Son our 
Saviour's holy Institution, in remembrance of his Death and Passion, may be par- 
takers of the same his most precious Body and Blood ; who in the night," &c. Scotch 
Liturgy. 

22 Trjv 6t' evxw — evxapiamOetcrav rpocprjv. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, C 86, p. 129. Tlpoa- 
nyo/mevoui oiprovi e'aOlouev au>u.a fevouevov? <5cd -rijv euxvv. Orig. contra Cels. lib. 8. 
See also Constit. Apost. 1. 8, c. 12. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. Mystag. 3, p. 289. Optat. 
adv. Parmen. lib- 6. Basil, de Spir. Sanct. c. 27. Chrysost. Horr.il in Ccemeterii 
Appellationem. August, de Trinitat. 1. 3, c. 4. 23 See their Book of .Reformation 
of Doctrine, Administration of their Sacraments, &c. printed at London, by John 
Day, 1547. 



sect, xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



297 



But then it should be considered, that it is plain enough that 
our Saviour used other words upon the same occasion, though 
the very words are not recorded : for the Evangelists tell us, 
that he gave thanks and Messed the Bread and Wine : and 
this sure must have been done in other words than those 
which he spoke at the delivery of them to his disciples : for 
blessing and thanksgiving must be performed by some words 
that are addressed to God, and not by any words directed to 
men : and therefore the words which our Saviour spake to 
his disciples could not be the whole Consecration of the Ele- 
ments, but rather a declaration of the effect which was pro- 
duced by his consecrating or blessing them. And therefore I 
humbly presume, that if the Minister should at the Consecra- 
tion of fresh Elements, after the others are spent, repeat again 
the whole form of Consecration, or at least from those words, 
Hear us, merciful Father, &c, he would answer the end 
of the rubric, which seems only to require the latter part of 
the form from those words, who in the same night, &c. be al- 
ways used at such Consecration. 

And this is certainly a very essential part of the service. Eor 
during the repetition of these words, the Priest performs to 
God the representative sacrifice of the death and passion of 
his Son. By taking the bread into his hands, and breaking 
it, he makes a memorial to him of our Saviour's body, broken 
upon the cross ; and by exhibiting the wine, he reminds him 
of his blood there shed for the sins of the world ; and by laying 
his hands upon each of them at the same time that he repeats 
those words, Take, eat, this is my body, &c, and Drink ye all 
of this, &c, he signifies and acknowledges that this comme- 
moration of Christ's sacrifice so made to God, is a means in- 
stituted by Christ himself to convey to the communicants the 
benefits of his death and passion, viz. the pardon of our sins, 
and God's grace and favour for the time to come. 
For this reason we find, that it was always the ^ad l n f ere - e 
practice of the ancients, in consecrating the Eu- mony always 

t • , i i ji 1 i used bv the an- 

chanst, to break the bread, (after our Saviours dent church in 
example,) to represent his passion and cruci- Eucharist" 8 tte 
fixion. 24 The Roman Church indeed, instead of 
breaking the bread for the communicants to partake of it, only 
breaks a single wafer into three parts, (of which no one par- 

21 See this proved in Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 15, chap. 3, vol. vi. paga 
713, &c. 



298 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 



takes,) for the sake of retaining a shadow at least of the ancient 
custom. They acknowledge, it is true, that this is an altera- 
tion from the primitive practice : but then they urge that they 
had "good reasons for making it, viz. lest in breaking the 
bread some danger might happen of scattering or losing some 
of the crumbs or particles ; 25 as if Christ himself could not 
have foreseen what dangers might happen, or have given as 
prudent orders as the pope, concerning his own institution. 

Very judiciously, therefore, did our good re- 
£?aiSher he formers (though they ordered these words before 
ceremony that rehearsed to be said, turning still to the altar, 
anhJsametime. without any elevation or shewing the sacrament 
to the peopled yet) restore these other ceremo- 
nies to avoid superstition: and yet this very restoration of 
them is charged as superstitious byBucer; 27 who therefore 
objects to them, and prevails for the leaving them all out, as 
well as the above-mentioned petition for the descent of the 
Holy Ghost, together with the crossings that were then also 
used during the pronunciation of the said petition. The tak- 
ing of the Bread and the Cup into the hands, has indeed 
since been restored, viz. first to the Scotch Liturgy, and then 
to our own, even at the request of the Presbyterians, at the 
last review. 28 But the signing of them with the cross has ever 
since been discontinued : though I do not know that there is 
an ancient Liturgy in being, but what shews that this sign was 
always made use of in some part or other of the office of Com- 
munion. 29 Such a number of crossings indeed as the Roman 
Missal enjoins, renders the service theatrical ; and are not to 
be met with in any other Liturgy : but one or two we always 
find ; so much having been thought proper, on this solemn 
occasion, to testify that we are not ashamed of the Cross of 
Christ, and that the solemn service we are then about is per- 
formed in honour of a crucified Saviour. And therefore as 
the Church of England has thought fit to retain this ceremony 
in the ministration of one of her Sacraments, I see not why 
she should lay it aside in the ministration of the other. For 
that may very well be applied to it in the ministration of the 
Eucharist, which the Church herself has declared of the Cross 

85 Salmero. Tract. 30. in Act. Ap. Chamier. de Euch. 1. 7, c. 11, n. 26, p. SS4. 

2S Rubric after the prayer of Consecration in the first book of king Echv. VI. 

27 Censur. apud Script. Anglican, p. 472. See the Proceedings of the Commis- 

sioners, &c. p. IS, and the Reply, p. 130 . 29 Vide et Chrysostom. Demonstrat. Quod 
Christus sit Deus, c. 9, et Aug. Horn. 11 S, in Johan. 



•. xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



299 



in Baptism, viz. That it was held in the primitive Church as 
ivell by the Greeks as the Latins, with one consent, and great 
applause : at what time, if any had opposed themselves against 
it, they woidd certainly have been censured as enemies of the 
name of the Cross, and consequently of Christ's merits, the sign 
whereof they could no better endured 

§. 3. But besides this, our Liturgy at that time The prayer of ci> 
suffered a more material alteration : the prayer lation mangled 
of Oblation, which by the first book of king Ed- and displacf ; d - 
ward was ordered to be used after the prayer of Consecration, 
(and which has since been restored to the Scotch Common 
Prayer,*'-) being half laid aside, and the rest of it thrown into 
an improper place ; as being enjoined to be said by our pre- 
sent rubric, in that part of the office which is to be used after 
the people have communicated ; whereas it was always the 
practice of the primitive Christians to use it during the act 
of Consecration. For the holy Eucharist was, from the very 
first institution, esteemed and received as a proper sacrifice, 
and solemnly offered to God upon the altar, before it was re- 
ceived and partaken of by the communicants. 31 In conformity 
whereunto, it was bishop Overall's practice to use the first- 
prayer in the Post-Communion office between the Consecra- 
tion and the Administering, 32 even when it was otherwise 
ordered by the public Liturgy. 

§. 4. In the beginning of this prayer, instead ^ various read- 
of those words, one oblation of himself once inginthis 
offered, which are now printed in most Common piayer - 
Prayer Books ; I have seen some that read own oblation of 
himself once offered ; and so, among others, does Dr. Nichols 
give it us, in his edition of it, which he says he corrected 
from a sealed book ; though in several sealed books which 

* In the first book of king Edward, and in the Scotch Liturgy, the first prayer in 
our Post-Communion is ordered immediately to follow the prayer of Consecration with 
this beginning : " Wherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the Institution 
of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we thy humble servants do cele- 
brate and make here before thy divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, the memorial 
which thy Son hath willed us to make ; having in remembrance his blessed Passion, 
mighty Resurrection, and glorious Ascension, rendering unto thee most hearty thanks 
for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same : entirely desiring thy fa- 
therly goodness," &c, as the first prayer goes on in our Post-Communion. And in 
king Edward's book, towards the end of the same prayer, after the words, " Our bound- 
en duty and service," it follows thus : " and command these our prayers and suppli- 
cations, by the ministry of thy holy angels, to be brought up into thy holy tabernacle, 
before the sight of thy divine Majesty, not weighing our merits," &c. 

30 Can. ?0, A. D. 1603. 31 The reader may see the subject exhausted to the utmosi 
satisfaction, by the learned and reverend Mr. Johnson, in his treatise on the Unbloody 
Sacrifice and Altar. 32 See Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 49. 



300 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi. 



I have collated myself, I have always found it one, as it is 
generally in the common books. However, the words, as 
they are, are not a tautology, (as some object,) but very copi- 
ous and elegant, and alluding to that portion of Scripture in 
Hebrews x. where the one oblation of Christ is opposed to the 
many kinds of sacrifices under the law, and the once offered 
to the repetition of those sacrifices. 

§. 5. Dr. Nichols, in his note upon this prayer, 
Sn^tS t0 has delivered his opinion, that it ought to be said 
prayer, and in the by the Minister upon his knees ; and the reason 
^oE 111 " ne S ives for it; is > because it is a prayer. But that 
reason would hold for kneeling at several other 
prayers both in this and in other offices, which yet the rubric 
directs shall be used standing. As to this prayer indeed, the 
rubric does not mention any posture that the Minister shall 
be in at the saying it : for as to those words, standing before 
the table, I am of opinion, that they only relate to the posture 
of the Minister whilst he is ordering the elements ; though 
in the Old Common Prayer Book it is very plain that they 
referred to the posture in which the Minister was to say the 
prayer ; the rubric then being no more than this, Then the 
Minister standing up, shall say as followeth. The rubric in 
the Scotch Liturgy is something larger, but, as I shall shew 
in the next paragraph, directly orders the Priest to stand. 
But as the rubric is now enlarged, the construction shews that 
the word standing must refer to another thing. However, 
since the rubric, before the additions to it, was so very express 
for the Minister's standing at the Consecration ; I think it is 
very probable, that if they who made those additions had in- 
tended any alteration of the posture, they would certainly have 
expressed it. For Ministers that had been always used to 
stand when they consecrated, could never imagine that the 
new rubric directed them to kneel, when there was not one 
word of kneeling, but an express direction for standing, at the 
ordering of the elements, without any following prescription 
for kneeling at this prayer, even in this new rubric. And I 
take it for granted, that whenever the Church does not direct 
the Minister to kneel, it supposes him to stand. Though Dr. 
Nichols will not allow of this ; " because," he says, " there is 
not one rubric which obliges the Minister to kneel in all the 
Post-Communion service ; and yet he does not know any one 
that has contended for the posture of standing in the perform- 



sect, xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



301 



ance of that part of the service." What the doctor has known, 
I cannot tell : but I can affirm the direct contrary, that I never 
knew one that contended for the posture of kneeling in the 
performance of that part of the service. But if any have done 
so, I am apt to think that they act contrary to the intention of 
the Church, for that she supposes the Minister to stand dur- 
ing that part of the service, I think is plain from her not order- 
ing him to stand up whilst he gives the blessing, which she 
certainly would have done, if she had supposed him to have 
been kneeling before. And indeed in most parts of the whole 
Communion-office the Priest is directed to stand. In the be- 
ginning of the office he is ordered to say the Lord's Prayer, 
with the Collect following, standing • and so he is to con- 
tinue whilst he repeats the Commandments : then follows one 
of the two Collects for the Icing, the Priest standing as before. 
Whilst he says the prayer for the whole state of Christ's 
Church, there is no posture mentioned : but since both the 
sentences before it, and the exhortation (at the time of Com- 
munion) after it, are without doubt to be said standing, and 
yet no mention made that there shall be any change of posture 
during all that time ; it seems very evident that the Church 
designed that prayer to be said standing. At the general con- 
fession indeed it is very fit that the Minister should kneel, and 
therefore he is there directed to do so. And though anyone 
knows in reason that he should stand at the absolution, yet 
that too is particularly mentioned in the rubric. From thence 
again to the address, before the prayer of Consecration, that 
being all an act of praise, he is to stand: but there again he 
is directed to kneel : but then at the end of it he is ordered to 
stand up, and, after the ordering of the bread and wine, to say 
the prayer of consecration, without any direction to kneel. 
Xor indeed would that be a proper posture for him whilst he 
is performing an act of authority, as the consecrating the ele- 
ments must be allowed to be. Nor is he from hence to the 
end of the office to kneel any more, except just during the 
time of his own receiving. So that through the whole office 
he is ordered to kneel but three times, viz. at the general con- 
fession, the prayer of address, and at his receiving the ele- 
ments: which being three places where there least wants a 
rubric to direct him to kneel, (since, if there was no such 
rubric, a Minister would of his own accord kneel down at those 
times,) and yet there being an express direction at each of 



302 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



those places for him to kneel ; it is very evident, that where 
the rubric gives no such direction, the Minister is always to 
stand. 

§. 6. If it he asked whether the Priest is to 
pJes^beto^ay sa y ^ s prayer standing before the table, or at 
this prayer stand- the north-end of it ; I answer, at the north-end 
mg before the of it . for? accor d mg to the rules of grammar, the 
participle standing must refer to the verb order- 
ed, and not to the verb say. So that whilst the Priest is or- 
dering the bread and wine, he is to stand before the table : 
but when he says the prayer, he is to stand so as that he may 
with the more readiness and decency break the bread before 
the people, which must be on the north-side. For if he stood 
before the table, his body would hinder the people from see- 
ing : so that he must not stand there : and consequently he 
must stand on the north-side ; there being, in our present ru- 
bric, no other place mentioned for performing any part of this 
office. In the Romish Church indeed they always stand be- 
fore the altar during the time of consecration ; in order to 
prevent the people from being eye-witnesses of their operation 
in working their pretended miracle : and in the Greek Church 
they shut the chancel door, or at least draw a veil or curtain 
before it, I suppose, upon the same account. 33 But our 
Church, that pretends no such miracle, enjoins, we see, the di- 
rect contrary to this, by ordering the Priest so to order the 
bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and 
decency break the bread, and take the cup into his hands, be- 
fore the people. And with this view, it is probable, the Scotch 
Liturgy ordered, that during the time of consecration the 
presbyter should stand at such a part of the holy table, where 
he may with the more ease and decency use both his hands. 

Sect. XXIII.- — Of the Form of Administration. 

The holy symbols being thus consecrated, the 
ments°to bt&e- communicants must not rudely take every one 
livered by the his own part;- because God, who is the master of 
communicant. 011 tne feast, hath provided stewards to divide to 
every one their portion. Some persons indeed 
have disliked the Minister's delivering the holy elements to 
each communicant ; pretending that it is contrary to the prac- 
tice of our Saviour, who bid the Apostles take the cup and di- 

33 Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 135. 



sect, xxrn.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



303 



vide it among the ms elves. u But one would think that any 
one that reads the context would perceive that this passage 
does not relate to the eucharist, but to the paschal supper; 
since it appears so evidently from the nineteenth and twenti- 
eth verses of the same chapter, that the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper was not instituted till after that cup was drank. 
But as to the manner of his delivering the Sacrament, the 
Scriptures are wholly silent ; and consequently we have no 
other means to judge what it was, but by the practice of the 
first Christians, who doubtless, as far as was convenient and 
requisite, imitated our Saviour in this as well as they did in 
other things : and therefore since it was the general practice 
among them for the Minister to deliver the elements to each 
communicant, we have as much authority and reason as can 
be desired to continue that practice still. 

§. 2. The Minister therefore that celebrateth 
is first to receive the communion in both kinds Fu c s 1 t ei t ° y tlie 
himself; then to proceed to deliver the same to 
the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, (i. e. in 
both kinds,) if any be present, {that they may help the chiej 
Minister, as the old Common Prayer has it, or him that cele- 
brateth, as it is in the Scotch Liturgy,) and after 
that to the people also in order. And this is con- And p^pie.° the 
sonant to the practice of the primitive Church, 
in which it was always the custom for the clergy to commu- 
nicate within the rails of the altar, and before the Sacrament 
was delivered to the people. 35 

§. 3. The rubric further directs, that the Com- Illt0 their hands 
munion must be delivered both to the clergy 
and laity into their hands ; which was the most primitive and 
ancient way of receiving. 36 In St. Cyril's time they received 
it into the hollow of their right hand, holding their left hand 
under their right in the form of a cross. 37 And in some few 
ages afterwards, some indiscreet persons pretending greater 
reverence to the elements, as if they were denied with their 
hands, put themselves to the charges of providing little saucers 
or plates of gold to receive the bread, until they were forbid- 
den by the sixth general Council. 38 Another abuse the Church 
of Rome brought in, where the Priest puts it into the people's 

34 Luke xxii. 17. 35 Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 13, Concil. Laod. Can. 19. Concil. Tolet. 
4, Can. 17. so Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 43, p. 245, B. Chrys. in Ephes. i. Horn. 3, 
torn. iii. p. 778, lin. 16. 37 Cyril. Catech. Myst. 5, § IS, p. 300. 33 Can. 101, torn. vi. 
col. 11SG, A. 



304 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



mouths, lest a crumb should fall aside ; which custom was 
also retained in the first book of king Edward VI., though a 
different reason was there alleged ; the rubric ordering that 
although it be read in ancient ivriters that the people many 
years past, received at the Priest's hands, the Sacrament of the 
Body of Christ in their own hands, and no commandment of 
Christ to the contrary ; yet forasmuch as they many times con- 
veyed the same secretly away, kept it with them, and diversely 
abused it to superstition and wickedness : lest any such thing 
hereafter should be attempted, and that an uniformity might be 
used throughout the whole realm, it was thought convenient the 
people shoidd commonly receive the Sacrament of Christ's 
Body in their mouths, at the Priest's hand. 39 But however 
Bucer censuring it, as savouring too much of an unlawful 
honour done to the elements, 40 it was discontinued at the next 
review, when the old primitive way of delivering it into the 
people's hands was ordered in the room of it. 
The a osti s ^" ^ e commiimcants are enjoined, whilst 

probabiyre- 8 ^ey receive this blessed Sacrament, to be all 
ceived in a pos- meekly kneeling. What posture the Apostles 

ture of adoration. • a • • L • i 1 

received it in, is uncertain; but we may proba- 
bly conjecture that they received it in a posture of adoration. 
For it is plain that our Saviour blessed and gave thanks both 
for the bread and wine ; and prayers and thanksgivings, we 
all know, were always offered up to God in a posture of ador- 
ation : and therefore we may very safely conclude that our 
blessed Saviour, who was always remarkable for outward re- 
verence in devotion, gave thanks for the bread and wine in 
an adoring posture. 

Now it is very well known that it was a rule with the Jews 
to eat of the passover to satiety : and therefore, since they 
had already satisfied hunger, they cannot be supposed to have 
eaten or drank so much of the holy eucharist as that they 
needed repose while they did it : and since, as we have al- 
ready hinted, they rose from their seats to bless the bread, it 
cannot be imagined, that, without any reason, they would re- 
solve to sit down again during the moment of eating it ; and 
then, though they rose immediately a second time at the bless- 
ing which was performed before the delivery of the cup, 
that they immediately sat down again to taste the wine, as if 

33 See the last rubric at the end of the Communion-office in king Edward's fiist book. 
*° Script. Anglican, p. 462. 



sect, xxiii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



305 



they could neither eat nor drink the smallest quantity without 
sitting. 

This indeed does not amount to a demonstration, but is yet 
a very probable conjecture ; and shews how groundlessly they 
argue, who, from the Apostles eating the passover sitting or 
leaning upon the leftside, (which was the table-gesture among 
those nations,) conclude, that they ate the eucharist in the 
same posture, because it was celebrated at the same time. 

But besides, we may observe that the passover The example of 
kself was, at the first institution of it, command- the Apostles does 
ed to be eaten standing and in haste* 1 to express not bind us ' 
the haste they were in to be delivered out of their slavery and 
bondage : but afterwards, when they were settled in the Land 
of Promise, they ate it in a quite contrary posture, viz. sitting, 
or lying down to it, as to a feast, to signify they were then at 
rest, and in possession of the land. And with this custom 
(though we do not find any where that it was ever commanded, 
or so much as warranted by God) did our blessed Saviour 
comply, and therefore doubtless thought that the alteration of 
the circumstances was a justifiable reason for changing the 
ceremonies. But was it ever so certain that a table-gesture 
was used at the institution of the Eucharist, yet it is very rea- 
sonable, since the circumstances of our blessed Saviour are 
now different from what they were at the institution, that our 
outward demeanour should also vary. The posture which 
might then be suitable in the Apostles is not now suitable in 
us : while he was corporally present with them, and they con- 
versed with him as man, without any awful dread upon them, 
which was due to him as the Lord of heaven and earth, no 
wonder if they did use a table-posture : but then their fami- 
liarity ought to be no precedent for us, who worship him in. 
his glory, and converse with him in the Sacrament, as he is 
spiritually present : and who therefore would be very irreverent 
to approach him in any other posture than that of adoration. 

As to the punctual time when the posture of 
kneeling first began, it is hard to determine; but J S" s 
we are assured that it hath obtained in the West- 
ern Church above twelve hundred years ; and though an- 
ciently they stood in the East, 42 yet it was with fear and 
trembling, with silence and downcast eyes, bowing themselves 
in the posture of worship and adoration.^ 

41 Exod. xii, 11. "2 Euseb. Hist. Ecel. 1. 7, c. 9, p. 255, B. 

« Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 19, p. 301. 



306* OF THE OllDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 

But it is now the custom of the Greek, Ko- 
H °VactIce. sal a man ' Lutheran, an(1 most Churches in the world, 
to receive kneeling : nor do any scruple it, but 
they who study pretences to palliate the most unjustifiable 
separation, or designed neglect of this most sacred ordinance. 
„, And it is worth observing, that they who at 

Ine pope re- . o» r*\ 

ceives the Sacra- other times cry out so much against the Church 
ment sitting. Q £ England for retaining several ceremonies, 
which, though indifferent in themselves, they say become un- 
lawful by being abused by superstition and popery, can, in this 
more solemn and material ceremony, agree even with the pope 
himself, (who receives sitting,) rather than not differ from the 
best and purest Church in the world. 44 

Nor may I pass by unobserved that the posture 
S3 L?t n roducrd!° m oi sitting was first brought into the Church by the 
Arians; who stubbornly denying the divinity of 
our Saviour, thought it no robbery to be equal with him, and 
to sit down with him at his table ; for which reason it was 
justly banished the reformed Church in Poland, by a general 
synod, A. D. 1583. And it is the pope's opinion of his being 
St. Peter's successor, and Christ's vicegerent, which prompts 
him to use such familiarity with his Lord. 45 

§. 5. As for the words of Administration ; the 
Th w™ ° f first part of them, viz. The Body, or The Blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, was the only form used 
in St. Ambrose's time at the delivery of the Bread and Wine, 40 
to which the receivers answered, Amenf 1 both to express their 
desire that it might be Christ's body and blood unto them, 
and their firm belief that it was so. The next words, pre- 
serve thy tody and soul unto everlasting life, were added by 
St. Gregory : 43 and these with the former were all that were 
to be used at the delivery of the elements, during the first 
Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. But these words, 
I suppose, being thought at that time to savour too much of 
the real presence in the Sacrament, which was a doctrine that 
then was thought to imply too much of transubstantiation to 
be believed; they were therefore left out of the second book, 
and the following words prescribed in the room of them, Take 
and eat this, &c, or Drink this, &c, as in the latter part of 
our present forms. But these on the other side reducing the 



44 Durand. Rational. I. 4, c. 54, numb. 5. 4 ' Durand. ibid. 4 <5 Ambr. de Sacr. 
1. 4, c. 5, torn. iv. col. 368, G. 47 Liturg. Clement. Basil. ^Ethiopic. Cyril. Catech. 
Mystag. 5, §. 18. 48 Vide Durand. de Rit. Eccles. Cathol. 1. 2, c. 55, numb. 16, p. 287. 



sect, xxiii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



307 



Sacrament to a bare eating and drinking in remembrance of 
the death and passion of our Lord ; they were in a little time- 
as much disliked as the former. And therefore upon queen 
Elizabeth's accession to the throne, (whose design and endea- 
vour was to unite the nation as much as she could in one 
doctrine and faith,) both these forms were enjoined to be used 
(as we have them still) to please both parties. Though in the 
Scotch Liturgy the last clause was again thrown out, and the 
former only (which was prescribed by the first book) retained, 
with a direction to the receiver to say Amen : which is un- 
doubtedly the most agreeable to the primitive practice, and to 
the true notion of the Eucharist. 

§. 6. "Where there are two or more Ministers communion in 
present, it is the custom for the chief Minister, or one kind ex- 
for him that consecrates, to administer only the ammed - 
body, and for another to follow and administer the cup. 
Agreeable to an old rubric in king Edward's first Liturgy, 
which orders, that if there be a Deacon or other Priest, then 
shall he follow with the chalice: and as the Priest ministereth 
the Sacrament of the Body, so shall he {for more expedition) 
minister the Sacrament of the Blood, in form before luritten. 
For our Church does not (with the Roman Church) rob the 
people of half the Sacrament, but administers to the laity as 
well as the clergy under both hinds. The Romanists indeed 
pretend that Christ administered under both kinds only to the 
Apostles, whom he had made priests just before, and gave no 
command that it should be so received by the laity. But we 
would ask whether the Apostles were not all that were then 
present ? If they were, in what capacity did they receive it ? 
how did they receive the bread before the Hoc facite, {Do 
this,) as priests, or as laymen ? It is ridiculous to suppose 
those words changed their capacity: though if we should al- 
low they did, yet it would only relate to consecrating, and not 
to receiving. But if Christ only gave it to the Apostles as 
priests, it must necessarily follow, that the people are not at 
all concerned in one kind or other ; but that each kind was 
intended only for priests. Eor if the people are concerned, 
how came they to be so ? Where is there any command, but 
what refers to the first institution ? So that it had been much 
more plausible, according to this answer, to exclude the peo- 
ple wholly, than to admit them to one kind, and to debar 
them of the other. 

s 2 



308 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 



Not so, say they, because Christ himself administered the 
Sacrament to some of his disciples under one kind only. 49 But 
to make out this we require, first, that it be proved that 
Christ did then administer the Sacrament; or, secondly, if he 
did, that the cup was not implied ; since breaking of bread, 
when taken for an ordinary meal in Scripture, does not ex- 
clude drinking at it. 

When we appeal to the practice of the primitive ages, they 
leave us : and the most impartial of them will allow that the 
custom of communicating under one kind only, as is now used 
in the Church of Eome, was unknown to the world for a thou- 
sand years after Christ. 50 In some cases (it is true) they dip- 
ped the bread in the wine, as in the case of baptized infants, 
(to whom they administered the Eucharist in those primitive 
times,) and of very weak, dying persons, who could not other- 
wise have swallowed the bread ; and also that by this means 
they might keep the Sacrament at home against all emergent 
occasions. And this probably might in time make the way 
easier for introducing the Sacrament under the kind of bread 
only. 

§. 7. When all have communicated, the Minis - 
° f ^fS? 01 ^ ter is ducted to return to the Lord's Table, and 
reverently place upon it what remaineth of the 
consecrated elements, covering the same icith a fair linen cloth ; 
which by the ancient writers and the Scotch Liturgy (in which 
this rubric first appeared) is called the Corporal, from its 
being spread over the Body or consecrated Bread, 51 and some- 
times the Pall, 5 * I suppose for the same reason. The insti- 
tution of it is ascribed to Eusebius, bishop of Rome, who lived 
about the year 300. 53 And that it was of common use in the 
Church in the fifth century, is evident from the testimony of 
Isidore Peleusiota, who also observes that the design of using 
it was to represent the body of our Saviour being wrapped in 
fine linen by Joseph of Arimathea. 54 

Sect. XXIY.—Ofthe Lord's Prayer. 

It is rudeness in manners to depart from a 
ing t devoSons d " friend's house so soon as the table is removed, 
and an act of irreligion to rise from our« common 

49 Luke xxiv. 30 . 50 Secundum antiquam Ecclesiae consuetudinem, omnes tarn 
corpori quam sanguini communicabant : quod etiam adhuc in quibusclam Ecclesiis 
servatur. Aquin. in Johan. vi. 51 Alcuir.. de Offic. Divin. 52 Rad. Tungr. de 
Can. Obs. 53 Vid. Gratian. de Const. Dist. 2. 54 i s \± p e leus. Ep. 123. 



s>:ct. xxv.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



£09 



meals without prayer and thanksgiving : how much more ab- 
surd and indecent then would it be for us to depart abruptly 
from the Lord's Table ! Our Saviour himself concluded his 
last Supper with a hymn, 55 (supposed to be the Paschal Hal- 
lelujah,) in imitation of which all Churches have finished this 
feast with solemn forms of prayer and thanksgiving. 

§. 2. The Lord's Prayer is placed first, and 
cannot indeed be any where used more properly : Prayer^hy 
for having now received Christ in our hearts, used first after 
it is fit the first words we speak should be his : recemng - 
as if not only we, but Christ lived and spake in us. We 
know that to as many as receive Christ, he gives power to he- 
come the sons of God, 56 so that we may now all with one heart 
and one voice address ourselves cheerfully to God, and very 
properly call him, Our Father, &c. 

§. 3. The Doxology is here annexed, because 
all these devotions are designed for an act of ^y^Jf 7, 
praise, for the benefits received in the holy Sa- 
crament. 

Sect. XXV. — Of the first Prayer after the Lord's Prayer. 

I have already observed, that in the first The desi n of - t 
Common Prayer of king Edward VI. and in that The design of lt - 
drawn up for the Church of Scotland, this first prayer in the 
Post-Communion was, with a proper introduction, ordered to 
be used immediately after the prayer of Consecration : not 
but that what remains of it is very proper to be used after 
communicating. For St. Paul beseeches us, by the mercies 
of God, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and ac- 
ceptable to God, as our reasonable service? 1 And the Fathers 
esteemed it one great part of this office to dedicate ourselves 
to God. For since Christ hath put us in mind of his infinite 
love in giving himself for us, and in this Sacrament hath given 
himself to us; and since we have chosen him for our Lord, 
and solemnly vowed to be his servants ; it is very just and 
reasonable, that we should also give up ourselves wholly to 
him in such a manner as this form directs us. 

Sect. XXVI. — Of the second Prayer after the LoraVs Prayer. 

When we communicate often, it may be very Thedesi , of it 
grateful, and sometimes very helpful to our de- e eslS1 ' ° 1 

55 Matt. xxvi. 30. 56 John i. 12. 57 R om . x ;i. i. 



310 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



votions, to vary the form : for which cause the Church hath 
supplied us with another prayer ; which, being more full of 
praises and acknowledgments, will be most suitable when our 
minds have a joyful sense of the benefits received in this Sa- 
crament : as the former, consisting chiefly of vows and reso- 
lutions, is most proper to be used when we would express our 
love and duty. 

Sect. XXVII. — Of the Gloria in jExcelsis, or the Angelic Hymn. 

To conclude this office with an hymn, is so 
^wSm&S* direct an imitation of our Saviour's practice, 53 
that it hath ever been observed in all Churches 
and ages. And though the forms may differ, yet this is as 
ancient as any now extant. The former part of it is of an 
heavenly original, being sung by angels at our Saviour's nati- 
vity ; 53 and was from thence transcribed into the oriental 
Liturgies, especially St. James's, where it is thrice repeated. 
The latter part of it is ascribed to Telesphorus about the year 
of Christ 139; and the whole hymn, with very little differ- 
ence, is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions, 00 and was 
established to be used in the Church-service by the fourth 
Council of Toledo about a thousand years ago. G1 In the pre- 
sent Roman Missal it stands in the beginning of this office, as 
it does also in the first Common Prayer of king Edward VI., 
where it immediately follows the Collect for Purity ; though 
it is now, I think, placed much more properly at the close of 
the Communion, when every devout communicant being full 
of gratitude, and longing for an opportunity to pour out his 
soul in the praises of God, cannot have a more solemn and 
compact form of words to do it in than this. In the Greek 
Church it makes a constant part of the morning devotions, as 
well upon ordinary days, as upon Sundays and holy-days ; 
only with this difference, that upon ordinary days it is only 
read, whereas upon more solemn times it is appointed to be 
sung. 63 

Sect. XXVIIL— Of the final Blessing. 

The people were always dismissed from this 
T1 Godr&c.° f ordinance by a solemn blessing pronounced by 
the Bishop if present, or, in his absence, by the 

53 Matt. xxvi. 30. 59 Luke ii. 14. Lib. vii. cap. 48. ci Can. 13, torn. v. 

col. 1710, A. 02 D r . Smith's Account of the Greek Church, u. 224. 



sect, xxix.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 311 

Priest : 63 and none were allowed to depart till this was given 
by the one or the other. 64 

The form here used is taken chiefly from the words of 
Scripture : the first part of it from Philippians iv. 7, and the 
latter part being no other than a Christian paraphrase npon 
Numbers vi. 24, &c. 



Sect. XXIX. — Of the additional Prayers. 
Lest there should be any thins: left unasked in 

prayers. 



this excellent office, the Church hath added six 0f the additiona] 



Collects more to be used at the Minister's discre- 
tion : concerning which it will be sufficient to observe, that 
they are plain and comprehensive, and almost every sentence 
of them taken out of the Bible, and are as proper to be joined 
to any other office as this. For which reason the rubric al- 
lows them to be said as often as occasion shall serve, after the 
Collects either of Morning or Evening Prayer, Communion or 
Litany, by the discretion of the Minister. 

When they are added to the Communion-office r nierublieb6ftre 
on Sundays and holv-days that have no Commu- these collects, 
nion, they are ordered to be said after the offer- cS^S" 1 " 
tory : from whence some have imagined, that the first m ^ ric after 

til G1H 

Prayer for the Church militant is part of the 
offertory ; because in the first rubric, at the end of the whole 
office, that prayer, on such days, is always to be used, and 
then one or more of these Collects are to follow. But that 
the offertory only signifies the sentences that are read whilst 
the alms and other devotions of the people are collecting, I 
have already had occasion to mention. 65 To reconcile this 
difference, therefore, the reader must observe, that by the 
first book of king Edward VI. the prayer for Christ's Church 
was never to be read but when there was a Communion. So 
that then if there was no Communion, these Collects were 
properly ordered to be said after the offertory. But the Com- 
munion-office being afterwards thrown into a different form, 
the prayer for the Church militant was added to that part of 
the service, which was ordered to be read on Sundays and 
other holy-days that had no Communion, without altering the 
rubric of which I am now speaking. And this is that which 
makes the rubrics a little inconsistent. However the differ- 



M Concil. Agath. Can. 30, torn. iv. col. 1388, B. « Cone. Agath. Can. 47, torn. iv. 
col. 1301, A. " See page 274. 



312 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. ti. 



ence is not much. For the Collects are still to be said after 
the offertory, though not immediately after, as formerly, the 
prayer for the Church militant coming in between. 

Sect. XXX. — Of the Rubrics after the Communion. 

Daily Commu- ^ N tne P rnint i ve Church, while Christians con- 
nions in the pri- tinued in their strength of faith and devotion, 
mitive church. fa ose w h were qualified generally communicated 
once every day ; 66 which custom continued till after St. Au- 
gustine's time : 67 but afterward, when charity grew cold, and 
devotion faint, this custom was broke off ; and they fell from 
every day to Sundays and holy-days only, and thence at Anti- 
och to once a year and no more. 68 

In regard of this neglect, canons were made by 
Christmas, East- severa i Councils to oblige men to receive three 

er, and Whitsun- . P . 

tide, why pre- times a year at least, viz. at Christmas, Laster,. 
commuSL /. and Whitsuntide, (probably in conformity to the 
ancient Jews, who were commanded by God him- 
self to appear before the Lord at the three great feasts that 
correspond to these ; viz. in the feast of unleavened Bread,, 
and in the. feast of IVeeks, and in the feast of Taberna- 
cles ,- 69 ) and those that neglected to communicate at those 
seasons were censured and anathematized. 70 

At the Reformation our Church took all the 

The care of the ■, u , -i i, \. *. c 

church about care she could to reconcile her members to ire- 
frequent com- q U ent Communion. And therefore in the first 

munion. X _ . „ . . , , TTT . 

Common Prayer Book of king Ldward VI. it 
was ordered that upon Wednesdays and Fridays, though there 
were none to communicate ivith the Priest, yet (after the Litany 
ended) the Priest should put upon him a plain alb or surplice, 
with a cope, and say all things at the altar, (appointed to be 
said at the celebration of the Lord's Supper,) until after the 
offertory. — And the same order ivas to be used all other days y 
ichensoever the people were accustomably assembled to pray in 
the Church, and none were disposed to communicate with the 
Priest. From whence it appears they took it for granted, that 
there would always be a sufficient number of communicants, 
upon every Sunday and holy-day at the least ; so that they 

66 Cypr. de Orat. Dom. p. 147. Basil. Epist. 2S9, torn. iii. p. 279, A. B. 67 Aug„ 
Ep. 98, torn. ii. col. 267, E. Ep. 54, torn. ii. col. 124, C. es Ambr. de Sacram. 1. 5 T 
c. 4, torn. iv. col. 371, K. But see this and the foregoing particulars proved at large in 
Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book xv. c. 9. 09 Deut. xvi. 26. 70 Concil. Agatha 
Can. 18, torn. iv. col. 13S6, C. But see more in Mr. Bingham, as before 



sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 313 



could not so much as suppose there would be no Communion 
upon any of those days. But it seems they feared that upon 
other days there might sometimes be none to communicate 
with the Priest, and so no Communion : and therefore they 
ordered, that if it should so happen for a whole week to- 
gether, yet nevertheless upon Wednesdays and Fridays in 
every week so much should be used of the Communion-ser- 
vice as is before limited. But afterwards, as piety grew 
colder and colder, the Sacrament began to be more and more 
neglected, and by degrees quite laid aside on the ordinary 
week-days. And then the Church did not think 

• , . p,i • • Rubric 1. Part of 

it convenient to appoint any 01 this service upon the communion- 
any other days than Sundays and holy-days. But office t0 ^ re f d 

J . i , .,, J . -i , / 7,7. t on every Sunday 

upon those days she still requires that [ciltliougli and holy-day, 
there he no Communion, yet) all shall he said ^communiorT 
that is appointed at the Communion, until the 
end of the general prayer, [for the whole state of Christ's 
Church militant here on earth,] together with one or more of 
the Collects at the end of the Communion-office, concluding 
ovith the hlessing* 

One reason of which order seems to be, that Thereasonsofit> 
the Church may still shew her readiness to ad- ereasonso 1 
minister the Sacrament upon these days ; and so that it is not 
hers nor the Minister's, but the people's fault, if it be not ad- 
ministered. For the Minister, in obedience to the Church's 
order, goes up to the Lord's table, and there begins the ser- 
vice appointed for the Communion ; and goes on as far as he 
can, till he come to the actual celebration of it : and if he stop 
there, it is only because there are none, or not a sufficient 
number of persons, to communicate with him. For if there 
were, he is there ready to consecrate and administer it to them. 
And therefore if there be no Communion on any Sunday or 
holy-day in the year, the people only are to be blamed. The 
Church hath done her part in ordering it, and the Minister his 
in observing that order ; and if the people would do theirs 
too, the holy Communion would be constantly celebrated in 

* In all the hooks between king Edward's first and our present one, it was said only, 
"upon the holy-days, if there be no Communion," &c, which supposed that^upon the 
Sundays there would be a Communion. Upon the holy-days too this office is to be said 
" to the end of the Homily concluding with the prayer (for the whole state, &c.) and 
one or more of the Collects before rehearsed, as occasion should serve." Which shews 
that it was then the design of the Church, that upon all holy-days there should be a 
Homily at least, if not a Sermon. And though that direction be left out now, yet still 
it may be implied ; since the rubric that enjoins the Homily or Sermon comes within 
that part of the service which is here ordered to be used. 



314 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. iv. 



every parish church in England, on every Sunday and holy- 
day throughout the year. But though this may hold in some 
places, yet I cannot say it will in all ; especially in populous 
towns and cities ; where my charity obliges me to believe, that 
if the Ministers would but make the experiment, they would 
find that they should never want a sufficient number of com- 
municants, whenever they themselves should be ready to ad- 
minister the Sacrament. And even in other places it were to be 
wished, that the Elements were placed ready upon the table 
on all Sundays and holy-days : for then the people could not 
help being put in mind of what the Church looks upon as their 
duty at those times ; and I persuade myself, that the Minister 
would generally find a number sufficient ready to communi- 
cate with him. 

But another reason why so much of this service is ordered 
to be read, though there be no Communion, is because there 
are several particular things in that part of it, which ought 
to be read as well to those who do not communicate, as to 
those who do. As, first, the Decalogue, or Ten Command- 
ments, of Almighty God, the supreme Lawgiver of the world, 
which it is requisite the people should often hear and be put 
in mind of, especially upon those days which are immediately 
dedicated to his service. Secondly, the Collects, Epistles, and 
Gospels, proper to all Sundays and holy-days, without which 
those festivals could not be distinguished either from one an- 
other, or even from ordinary days, nor consequently celebrated 
so as to answer the end of their institution. Thirdly, the Ni- 
cene Creed, wherein the divinity of our blessed Saviour is 
asserted and declared, and therefore very proper to be used 
on those days which are kept in memory of him and of his 
holy Apostles, by whom that doctrine, together with our whole 
religion grounded upon it, was planted and propagated in the 
world. Fourthly, the offertory, or select sentences of Scrip- 
ture, one or more of which are to be read, to stir up the con- 
gregation to offer unto God something of what he hath given 
them, as an acknowledgment that they receive from him all 
they have; which, howsoever it be now neglected, the people 
ought to be put in mind of at least every Lord's day. 71 Eifthly, 
the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church militant 
here on earth, in which we should all join as fellow members 
of the same body, especially upon the great festivals of the 

™ 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 



e,-ct. xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION". 



315 



year, which are generally celebrated by the whole Church we 
pray for. Most of these things made up the Missa Catechu- 
menorum of the ancient Church, i. e. that part of the service 
at which the catechumens, who were not admitted to the re- 
ception of the Eucharist, were allowed to be present. 72 And 
in our own congregations, when there is a Communion, those 
who do not communicate never depart till the end of the Ni- 
ccne Creed, for the abovesaid reasons : which shews, that there 
is nothing in that part of the service but what may very pro- 
perly be used upon any Sunday and holy-day when there is no 
Communion. Nor is this a practice of our own Church alone, 
but such as is warranted both by Greeks and Latins. Socrates 
tells us, 73 that in Alexandria, upon Wednesdays and Fridays, 
the Scriptures were read and expounded by their teachers, 
and all things were done in the Communion, but only conse- 
crating the mysteries. And as for the Latin Church, Duran- 
dus gives direction how the Communion-service might be read 
without any Communion. 74 

§. 2. I have supposed in one of the former para- 
graphs, that this part of the Communion-office olSetjfbesSd 
(though there be no Communion) is yet always at the altar, 
read at the Communion-table or altar. I know J^comn^ion. 6 . 
indeed it is very frequently performed in the desk. 
But I think the very reason why the Church appoints so much 
of this office upon the Sundays and other holy-days, though 
there be no Communion, is also a reason why it should be said 
at the altar. For the Minister's reading the office till he can 
go no further for want of communicants, I have observed, was 
designed in order to draw communicants to the table. And 
therefore is it not fit that the Minister himself should be 
ready at the place, whither he himself is inviting others ? For 
this reason, in the first book of king Edward, the rubric above 
cited ordered expressly that it should be said at the altar. 
Bucer indeed thought this tended too much towards creating 
in people's minds superstitious notions of the Mass ; 75 and in 
the second book of king Edward, which was modelled accord- 
ing to his directions, those words were left out. Though it is 
not improbable that as the word altar was thrown out every 
where else in this office, so it might be left out of this rubric 
upon dislike of the name ; without any intention to alter the 

« See Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, L 14. "3 Socrat. Hist. 1. 5, c. 21. « Durand. 
Rational. 1. 4, c. 1, num. 23, fol. 90. » Buceri Censura, p. 45S. 



316 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi, 



place where this part of the service on such days should be 
said. And indeed I cannot understand how this alteration 
could give any authority for the using any part of this office at 
any other place than the Lord's table ; so long as there was 
another rubric at the beginning of it, which still ordered that 
the Priest should stand at the north side of tJie table, and 
there say the Lord's Prayer with what follows, without any 
allowance or permission to say it any where else when there 
was no Communion. It is certain that our bishops still appre- 
hended, that it was to be said there ; since several of them, 
in their visitations, enjoined the Ministers to read it at the holy 
table ; and there, Mr. Hooker tells us, it was in his time com- 
monly read. 76 And that the Episcopal Commissioners appoint- 
ed to review the Liturgy at the Bestoration of king Charles II. 
supposed and intended it should continue to be performed 
there, appears from the Account of the Proceedings of the 
Commissioners of both persuasions. The Puritans had desired, 
" That the Ministers should not be required to rehearse any 
part of the Liturgy at the Communion table, save only those 
parts which properly belong to the Lord's Supper ; and that at 
such times only when the said holy Supper is administered." 77 
How this was received by the Episcopal Ministers, may be ga- 
thered from the Puritans' reply. "You grant not," say they, 
"that the Communion-service be read in the desk when there 
is no Communion ; but in the late form, (i. e. I suppose some 
occasional form that was then published,) instead thereof it is 
enjoined to be done at the table, (though there be no rubric in 
the Common Prayer Book requiring it.") 78 Now from hence 
I think it is plain, that they, who were commissioned to review 
the Liturgy, designed that this office should be always read at 
the altar, though they did not add any new rubric to order it, 
because, I suppose, they thought the general rubric above 
mentioned sufficient. 

The care of our §* ^' t0 re ^ urn *° the care °f our Church 

Church about in relation to frequency of Communions : how 
munSorl! C ° m " zea l° us sne is st iH to bring her members to com- 
municate oftener than she can obtain, is apparent 
Rubric 4. f rom her enjoining, that in Cathedral and Col- 
legiate Churches and Colleges, ivhere there are many Priests 



T5 Ecclesiastical Polity, 1. 5, §. SO. 77 See the Exceptions against the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, page 6. 78 See the Preface to the Papers that passed between ths 
Commissioners. 



sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



317 



and Deacons, they shall all receive the Communion ivith the 
Priest every Sunday at least, except they have a reasonable 
cause to the contrary ; and from her further re- 
quiring every Parishioner in general to communi- u nc 
cate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be 
one;* because at that time Christ our Passover was sacrificed 
for us, and by his death (which we commemorate in this Sa- 
crament) obtained for us everlasting life. 

§. 4. Every one may communicate as much Rubric 2 3 
oftener as he pleases : the Church only puts in Solitary Masses 
this precaution, that there shall be no celebration not allowe . d of - 
of the Lord's Supper, except there be a convenient number to 
communicate with the Priest, according to his discretion. And 
if there be not above twenty persons in the Parish of discretion 
to receive the Communion, yet there shall be no Communion, 
except four {or three at the least) communicate with the Priest. 
And this is to prevent the solitary masses which had been in- 
troduced by the Church of Rome, where the Priest says mass, 
and receives the Sacrament himself, though there be none to 
communicate with him : which our Church disallows, not per- 
mitting the Priest to consecrate the elements, unless he has 
three at least to communicate with him, because our Saviour 
seems to require three to make up a congregation. 79 

§. 5. The fifth rubric is designed to take away 
all those scruples which over-conscientious peo- Bread? whether 
pie used to make about the Bread and Wine. J ed or 

As to the Bread, some made it essential to the 
Sacrament to have leavened, others unleavened; each side, 
in that, as well as in other matters of as small moment, super- 
stitiously making an indifferent thing a matter of conscience. 

* The rubric that related to the frequency of Communion in king Edward's first hook 
was this : " Also that the receiving the Sacrament of the Messed Body and Blood of 
Christ, may he most agreeable to the institution thereof, and to the usage of the primi- 
tive Church ; in all cathedral and collegiate churches, there shall always some commu- 
nicate with the Priest that ministereth. And that the same may he also observed every 
where abroad in the country ; some one at the least of that house in every parish, to which 
by course, after the ordinance herein made, it appertaineth to offer for the charges of 
the Communion, or some other, which they shall provide to offer for them, shall re- 
ceive the holy Communion with the Priest : the which may be the better done, for that 
they know before when their course cometh, and may therefore dispose themselves to 
the worthy receiving of the Sacrament. And with him or them who doth so offer the 
charges of the Communion, all other who be then godly disposed thereunto, shall like- 
wise receive the Communion. And by this means the Minister, having always some 
to communicate with him, may accordingly solemnize so high and holy mysteries, with 
all the suffrages and due order appointed for the same. And the Priest on the week- 
days shall forbear to celebrate the Communion, except he have some that will com- 
municate with him." 

79 Matt, xviii. 20. 



318 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION Or [chap. vi. 

Our Saviour doubtless used such bread as was ready at hand : 
and therefore this Sacrament being instituted immediately 
after the celebration of the passover, at which they were nei- 
ther to eat leavened bread, nor so much as to have any in 
their houses, upon pain of being cut off from Israel, 80 doe? 
perfectly demonstrate that he used that which was unleavened. 
But this perhaps was only upon the account of the passover, 
when no other but unleavened bread could be used by the 
Jews. After his resurrection he probably celebrated (if he 
celebrated at all) in leavened bread, and such as was in com- 
mon use at all other times, except the time of the passover. 
And that the primitive Church always used common bread, 
appears, in that the elements for the holy Eucharist were al- 
ways taken out of the people's oblations of Bread and Wine, 
which doubtless were such as they themselves used upon 
other occasions. But when these oblations began to be left 
off about the eleventh or twelfth century, the Clergy were 
forced to provide the elements themselves ; and they, under 
pretence of decency and respect, brought it from leavened to 
unleavened, and from a loaf of common bread, that might be 
broken, to a nice wafer, formed in the figure of a denarius ; or 
penny, to represent, as some imagine, the thirty pence for 
which our Saviour was sold. And then also the people, in- 
stead of offering a loaf, as formerly, were ordered to offer a 
penny ; which was either to be given to the poor, or to be 
expended upon something belonging to the sacrifice of the 
altar. 81 However, this abuse was complained of by some dis- 
cerning and judicious men, as soon as it began. But when 
once introduced, it was so generally approved, that it was not 
easy to lay it aside. For even after the Beformation, king- 
Edward's first book enjoins these unleavened wafers to be 
used, though with a little alteration indeed in relation to their 
size. The whole rubric, as it stood then, runs thus : For 
avoiding all matters and occasions of dissension, it is meet that 
the Bread prepared for the Communion be made, through all 
this realm, after one sort and fashion ; that is to say, unlea- 
vened and round, as it was afore, but without all manner of 
print, and something more large and thicker than it teas, so 
that it may be aptly divided in diverse pieces : and every one 
shall be divided in two pieces at the least, or more, by the dis- 

8 o Exod. xii. 15, 19. 81 See all these particulars proved in Bona de Rebus Litur- 
gicis, 1. 1, c. 23, §. 11, and in Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, 1. 15, c. 2, §. 5. 6. 



:ct. xxs.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



319 



cretion of the Minister, and so distributed. And men must 
not think less to be received in part than in the whole, but in 
each of them the whole body of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

The bread, I suppose, was ordered to be round, in imita- 
tion of the wafers that had been used both in the Greek and 
Roman Church ever since the eleventh century : 83 upon 
which was stamped the figure either of a Crucifix or the Holy 
Lamb. But in the rubric above, it is ordered to be made 
without all manner of print, and something more large and 
thicker than it was ; the custom before being to make it 
small, about the size of a penny, to represent, as some ima- 
gine, the thirty pence for which our Lord was sold. 83 These 
superstitions the Reformation had laid aside ; but the rubric 
above mentioned still affording matter for scruple, it was al- 
tered at the review in the fifth of king Edward, when, in his 
second book, this rubric was inserted in the room of it : And 
to take away the superstition which any person hath, or might 
have, in the Bread and Wine, it shall suffice that the Bread 
be such as is usually to be eaten at the table with other meats, 
but the best and purest wheat-bread that conveniently may be 
gotten. And the same rubric, with some little difference, is 
still continued in our present Liturgy. Though, by the In- 
junctions of queen Elizabeth, wafer-bread seems Wafer . Bread en _ 
to have been again enjoined: for among some joined by queen 
orders, at the end of those Injunctions, this was Ellzabeth - 
one : Wliere also it ivas in the time of king Edward the 
Sixth used to have the Sacramental Bread of common fine 
bread ; it is ordered, for the more reverence to be given to these 
holy mysteries, being the Sacraments of the Body and Blood 
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that the said Sacramental Bread 
be made and formed plain, without any figure thereupon, of 
the same fineness and fashion, round, though somewhat bigger 
in compass and thickness, as the usual Bread and Wafer, 
heretofore named singing -cakes, tvhich served for the use of 
private Mass.^ Though bishop Cosin observes upon our 
present rubric, that "It is not here commanded that no un- 
leavened or wafer-bread be used ; but it is only said, that the 
other bread may suffice. So that though there was no ne- 
cessity, yet there was a liberty still reserved of using wafer- 

82 Bertoldus Constantiensis de Ordine Romano. Durand. Rational. 1. 4, c. 30, n. 8. 
83 Honorii Gemma Animas, 1. 1, c. 66, apud Bonam, and in Bingham, 1. 15, c. 2, §. 5. 
M See bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 84, 85. 



320 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. VI. 



bread, which was used in diverse Churches of the kingdom, 
and Westminster for one, till the seventeenth of king Charles." 85 
And allowed -^ or wmcn reason perhaps, though the Scotch 
by the Scotch Liturgy continues the rubric that was first in- 
Liturgy. serted in the fifth year of king Edward ; yet a 

parenthesis is inserted, to shew that the use of wafer-bread is 
lawful ; {though it be lawful to have wafer-bread) it shall 
suffice, and so on, as in the rubric of our own Liturgy. 

§. 6. Another thing about which there might 
remainder of the be dissension, is, how the Elements that remain 
SbTdis^osed of slaou ^ ^e disposed of afterwards, and therefore 

e ispose o . ^ . g p rov j^ e( j another rubric, that if any of 
the Bread and Wine remain unconsecrated, the Curate shall 
have it to his own use. % Eor though it hath not been actually 
consecrated, yet by its being dedicated and offered to God, it 
ceases to be common, and therefore properly belongs to the 
Minister as God's steward. 

But if any remain of that which ivas consecrated, it shall 
not be carried out of the church, but the Priest, and such other 
of the communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall im- 
mediately after the blessing, reverently eat and drink the same.\ 
In the primitive Church, whatever of the consecrated Ele- 
ments were left after all had communicated, were either 
reserved by the Priest to be administered to infirm persons 
in cases of exigency, that they might not die without re- 
ceiving the blessed Sacrament ; 86 or else were sent about to 
absent friends, as pledges and tokens of love and agreement 
in the unity of the same faith. 87 But this custom being 
abused, was afterwards prohibited by the Council of Laodi- 
cea, 88 and then the remains began to be divided among the 
Clergy ; S9 and sometimes the other communicants were al- 
lowed to partake with them, 90 as is now usual in our Church, 
where care is taken to prevent the superstitious reservation 
of them formerly practised by the Papists. However, it would 
be convenient if the Scotch rubric were observed, by which, 
to the end there may be little left, he that officiates is required 
to consecrate with the least. 

* First added in king Edward's second book. 

+ Added first to the Scotch Liturgy, and then to our own at the last review. 
85 See Dr. Nichols's additional Notes, page 54. 86 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 44 
p. 246, C. Excerpt. Egbert. 22. Concil. torn. vi. col. 1588. 8 " Just. Mart. Apol. 1. c. 
85, p. 127, 128. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 5, c. 24, p. 193, B. 88 Can. 14, torn. i. col. 150, 
A. S9 Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 31. so Theophil. Alex. Can. 7, ap. Bevereg. Pandect. 
Canon. Apost. &c. torn. ii. p. 572, F. 



sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



321 



§. 7. The seventh rubric is a direction how Rubric 7 The 
the Bread and JVine shall he prodded. How Bread and wine, 
they were provided in the primitive Church I ^ e d° be pro " 
have already shewed. Afterwards it seems it was 
the custom for every house in the parish to.provide in their 
turns the holy Loaf, (under which name I suppose were com- 
prehended both the Elements of Bread and Wine ;) and the 
good Man and good Woman that provided were particularly 
remembered in the prayers of the Church. 91 But by the first 
book of king Edward, the care of providing was thrown upon 
the Pastors and Curates, who were obliged continually to find, 
at their costs and charges in their cures, sufficient Bread and 
Wine for the holy Communion, as oft as their parishioners 
should be disposed for their spiritual comfort to receive the 
same. But then it was ordered, that, in recompense of such 
costs and charges, the parishioners of every parish should offer 
every Sunday, at the time of the offertory, the just value and 
price of the holy Loaf, (with all such money and other things 
as were wont to be offered with the same,) to the use of the 
Pastors and Curates, and that in such order and course as 
they were wont to find, and pay the said holy Loaf And in 
Chapels annexed, where the people had not been accustomed to 
pay any holy Bread, there they were either to make some 
charitable provision for the bearing of the charges of the Com- 
munion ; or else {for receiving of the same) resort to the par- 
ish church. But now, since, from this method of providing, 
several unforeseen inconveniences might, and most probably 
did. arise, either from the negligence, or obstinacy, or poverty 
of the parishioners : it was therefore afterwards ordered, that 
the Bread and Wine for the Communion shoidd be provided 
by the Curate and the Churchwardens, at the charges of the 
parish ; and that the parish shoidd be discharged of such sums 
of money, or other duties which hitherto they have paid for the 
same, by order of their houses every Sunday. And this is the 
method the Church still uses ; the former part of this rubric 
being continued in our present Communion-office, though the 
latter part was left out, as having reference to a custom which 
had for a long while been forgotten. 

§. 8. The next rubric, as far as it concerns the Rubric s Eccle . 
duty of communicating, has already been taken siastkai duties 

S1 See L'Estrange's Alliance, p. 172. 
V 



322 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 



to h be' aw When not ^ ce But the chief design of it is to settle 
the payment of Ecclesiastical Duties. For it is 
hereby ordered, that yearly at Easter every "parishioner shall 
reckon with his Parson, Vicar, or Curate, or his or their deputy 
or deputies, and pay to them or him all ecclesiastical duties, 
accustomably due, and then at that time to be paid* What 
are the duties here mentioned is a matter of doubt : bishop 
Stillingneet supposes them to be a composition for personal 
tithes, (i. e. the tenth part of every one's clear gains,) due at 
that time ; 92 but the present bishop of Lincoln imagines them 
to be partly such duties or oblations as were not immediately 
annexed to any particular office ; and partly a composition for 
the holy Loaf, which the Communicants were to bring and 
offer, and which is therefore to be answered at Easter, be- 
cause at that festival every person was, even by the rubric, 
bound to communicate. 93 They both perhaps may have judged 
right : for by an act of parliament in the second and third of 
Edward VI. such personal tithes are to be paid yearly at or 
before the feast of Easter, and also all lawful and accustomary 
offerings, which had not been paid at the usual offering days, u 
are to be paid for at Easter next following. 
„. §. 9. The last rubric is concerning the dis- 

The money <J . . _ ° 

given at the posal of the money given at the Communion, 

bfdL^sedTf. 10 and was not added tdl tbe last review ; but to 
prevent all occasion of disagreement, it was then 
ordered, that after the divine service ended, the money given at 
the offertory shall be disposed of to such pious and charitable 
uses as the Minister and Churchwardens shall think fit; where- 
in if they disagree it shall be disposed of as the Ordinary shall 

* The rubric in king Edward's first book was this : " Furthermore, every man and 
woman to be bound to hear and be at the Divine Service in the parish church where 
they may be resident, and there with devout prayer, or godly silence and meditation, 
to occupy themselves: there to pay their duties, to communicate once in the year at 
the least ; and there to receive and take all other sacraments and rites in this book ap- 
pointed. And whosoever willingly upon no just cause doth absent themselves, or doth 
ungodly in the parish church occupy themselves ; upon proof thereof, by the ecclesias- 
tical laws of the realm to be excommunicated, or suffer other punishment, as shall to 
the ecclesiastical judge (according to his discretion) seem convenient." In all the other 
old books it began thus : " And note, every parishioner shall communicate at the least 
three times in the year, of which Easter to be one ; and shall also receive the sacra- 
ments and other rites according to the order in this book appointed." The word sacra- 
ments I suppose is used here in a large sense, for the other ordinances of Confirmation, 
Matrimony, &c, which were all called sacraments before, and for some time after the 
Reformation. 

98 Bishop Stillingfleet's Ecclesiastical Cases, page 252. S3 Bishop Gibson's Codex, 
vol. ii. p. 740. 9i The usual offering-days at first were Christmas, Easter, Whitsun- 
tide, and the feast of the dedication of the parish-church : but by an act of Henry VIII. 
A, D. 1536, they were changed to Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas. 



sect, xxxi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 



323 



appoint. The hint was taken from the Scotch Liturgy, in 
which immediately after the blessing this rubric follows : 
After the divine service ended, that which was offered shall be 
divided in the presence of the Presbyter and the Church- 
wardens, whereof one half shall be to the use of the Presbyter, 
to provide him books of holy divinity ; the other half shall be 
faithfully kept and employed on some pious or charitable use, 
for the decent furnishing of that church, or the public relief of 
their poor, at the discretion of the Presbyter and Church- 
wardens. 

Sect. XXXI. — Of the Protestation. 

At the end of the whole office is added a Pro- 
testation concerning the gesture of kneeling at the The Jon. esta " 
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and explaining 
the Church's notion of the presence of Christ's Body and 
Blood in the same. This was first added in the second book 
of king Edward, in order to disclaim any Adoration to be in- 
tended by that ceremony either unto the Sacramental Bread 
or Wine there bodily received, or unto any real and essential 
presence there being, of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood. 
But upon queen Elizabeth's accession this was laid aside. For 
it being the queen's design (as I have already observed more 
than once) to unite the nation as much as she could in one 
faith ; it was therefore recommended to the divines, to see 
that there should be no definition made against the aforesaid 
notion, but that it should remain as a speculative opinion not 
determined, but in which every one might be left to the free- 
dom of his own mind. And being thus left out, it appears no 
more in any of our Common Prayers till the last review : at 
which time it was again added, with some little amendment of 
the expression and transposal of the sentences ; but exactly 
the same throughout as to the sense ; excepting that the words 
real and essential Presence were thought proper to be changed 
for corporal Presence. Eor a real Presence of the Body 
and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is what our Church fre- 
quently asserts in this very office of Communion, in her Arti- 
cles, in her Homilies, and her Catechism : particularly in the 
two latter, in the first of which she tells us, Thus much ive 
must be sure to hold, that in the Supper of the Lord there is 
no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing 
absent; — but the Communion of the Body and Blood of the 

y 2 



324 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[cH.vr. vi 



Lord in a marvellous incorporation, which by the operation of 
the Holy Ghost — is through faith wrought in the souls of the 
faithful, &c., 95 icho therefore (as she further instructs us in the 
Catechism) verily and indeed take and receive the Body and 
Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. This is the doctrine of 
our Church in relation to the real Presence in the Sacrament, 
entirely different from the doctrine of Transubstantiation, 
which she here, as well as elsewhere, 06 disclaims : a doctrine 
which requires so many ridiculous absurdities and notorious 
contradictions to support it, that it is needless to offer any 
confutation of it, in a Church which allows her members the 
use of their senses, reason, Scripture, and antiquity. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE MINISTRATION OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF 
INFANTS, TO BE USED IN THE CHURCH. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

Having now gone through the constant offices of the Church. 
I come, in the next place, to those which are only to be used 
as there is occasion. And of these the office of Baptism, be- 
ing the first that can regularly be administered, (as being the 
first good office that is done to us when we are born,) is there- 
fore properly set first. In order to treat of which in the same 
method I have observed hitherto, it will be necessary, in the 
first place, to say something of the Sacrament itself. 

§. 1 . Water therefore (which is the matter of 
watoSby ail it; ) hatn so natural a property of cleansing, that it 
nations as a sym- hath been made the symbol of purification by all 
^ n ° f purifica " nations, and used with that signification in the 
rites of all religions. 1 The heathens used divers 
kinds of baptism to expiate their crimes ; 2 and the Jews bap- 
tize such as are admitted proselytes at large ; 3 and when any 
of those nations turn Jews, who are already circumcised, they 
receive them by baptism only : with which ceremony also 

05 First part of the Homily concerning the Sacrament. 9(5 Article XXVIIT. and 
Homilies. 1 Tou<5cop atvl£ei. Plut. Quasst. Rom. 2 Tert. de Bapt. c. 5, p. 225, D. 
et 226, A. 3 See this proved in Bishop Hooper's Discourse on Lent, part ii. chap. 2, 

2, p. 159 ; and in Dr. Wall on Infant-Baptism. Introduction, §. 1, 2, 



IN-TRODUCTION.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



325 



they purified such heathen women as were taken in marriage 
by Jewish husbands. And this is that universal, plain, and 
easy rite, which our Lord Jesus adopted to be a mystery in 
his religion, and the sacrament of admission into the Christian 
Church. 4 

§. 2. Nor can any thing better represent Re- 
iteration or New Birth, which our Saviour H °NewB?rth. S a 
requires of us before we can become Christians, 5 
than washing with water. For as that is the first office done 
unto us after our natural births, in order to cleanse us from 
the pollutions of the womb; 6 so when we are admitted into 
the Church, we are first baptized, (whereby the Holy Ghost 
cleanses us from the pollutions of our sins, and renews us unto 
God, 7 ) and so become, as it were, spiritual infants, and enter 
into a new life and being, which before we had not. For this 
reason, when the Jews baptized any of their proselytes, they 
called it their New Birth, Regeneration, or being born again. 9 ' 
And therefore when our Saviour used this phrase to Nicode- 
mus, he wondered that he, being a master in Israel, should 
not understand him. And even among the Greeks this was 
thought to have such virtue and efficacy, as to give new life 
as it were to those who were esteemed religiously dead. For 
if any one that was living was reported to be deceased, and 
had funeral solemnities performed upon his account ; he was 
afterwards, upon his return, abominated of all men, as a per- 
son unlucky and profane, banished and excluded from all hu- 
man conversation, and not so much as admitted to be present 
in the temples, or at the sacrifices of their gods, till he was 
born again, as it were, by being washed like a child from the 
womb : a custom founded upon the direction of the oracle at 
Delphos. For one Aristinus falling under this misfortune, 
and consulting Apollo to know how he might be freed from 
it, his priestess Pythia returned him this answer : 

"Oor<ra irep kv Xz^ssaaL yvvti tLktovc cc TzXslTai, 
TavTa iraXiv r TEXk<rav r ra dust-v /j-aicapzcrai Qeolari. 
What women do, when one in childbed lies, 
That do again; so may'st thou sacrifice. 

Aristinus rightly apprehending what the oracle meant, offered 
himself to women as one newly brought forth, to be washed 
again with water. And from this example it grew a custom 

* Matt, xxiii. 19. 5 John iii. 3—7. c Ezek. xvi. 4. "< Tit. iii. 5. 8 See 
Dr. Wall on Infant-Baptism, Introduction, §. G. 



326 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap, vit- 



araong the Greeks, when the like calamity befell any man, to 
expiate and purify him after this manner. 9 And thus in the 
Christian Church, by our Saviour's institution and appoint- 
ment, those who are dead to God through sin, are born again 
by the washing of Regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
Ghost.™ And how proper (by the way) water is to typify the 
Holy Ghost, may be seen by consulting several texts of Scrip- 
ture, where Water and the Blessed Spirit are mentioned as 
corresponding one to another. 11 

Milk, honey and That the primitive Christians had this notion 
salt, and white of baptism, I think may very fairly be asserted 
cSntiy n given"to fr° m those other rites which they anciently used 
the new-bap- in the celebration of this mystery : such as were 
the giving the new-baptized milk and honey, and 
salt, which were all given to infants new-born ; 12 and the put- 
ting upon them white garments, to resemble the swaddling 
spoken of by Ezekiel. 13 

For what reason ^ these, the ancient Fathers tell us, were done 
orw a reason. tQ signify and represent spiritual birth and in- 
fancy, and out of reference to what was done at the natural 
birth of children. 14 And therefore who can doubt but that 
the principal rite of washing with water (and the only one 
indeed ordained by our blessed Saviour) was chosen by him 
for this same reason, to be the sacrament of our initiation ; 
and that those who brought in the other rites above mentioned, 

did so conceive of it, and for that reason took in 
^mued . 011 " those imitations ? In some Churches indeed they 

have now for a long time been discontinued ; for 
they being only used as emblems to signify that the persons 
were become as new-born babes, they were left off at such 
times, when, whoie nations becoming Christians, there were 
hardly any other baptisms than of babes in a proper sense, 
who needed no such representations to signify their infancy. 

§. 3. As to the form of baptism, our Saviour 
Thef0 ST. fBap " onl y instituted the essential parts of it, viz. that 

it should be performed by a proper Minister, 
with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost P 
But as for the rites and circumstances of the administration 
of it, he left them to the determination of the Apostles and 

9 Plutarch. Quest. Romanae. 10 Tit. iii. 5. 11 Isa. xliv. 3. John iv. 14. John 
vii. 37, 38, 39. 12 Isa. vii. 15. Ezek. xvi. 4. 13 Ezek. xvi. 6. 14 Barnabas, c. 6. 
Tertul. de Bapt. c. 6, et contra Marcion. 1. i. c. 14. Hieron. adv. Luciferianos. Cyril. 
Catech. Mystag. 4. 15 Matt, xxviii. 19. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



327 



the Church. Yet without doubt afortn of baptism was very 
early agreed upon, because almost all Churches in the world 
do administer it much after the same manner. The latter 
ages indeed had made some superfluous additions ; but our 
reformers removed them, and restored this office to a nearer 
resemblance of the ancient model, than any other Church can 
shew. We have now three several offices in our Liturgy, viz. 
one for Public Baptism of Infants in the Church, another for 
Private Baptism of Children in Houses, and a third for such 
as are of Riper Years, and able to answer for themselves. 

The first is what is now most commonly used ; for there be- 
ing but very few adult persons, who now come over to the 
Church, infants are generally the persons that are baptized : 
and they being appointed to be brought to church, except in 
danger of death, the public form of baptism is there ordered to 
be used. Of this therefore I propose to treat in order at large, 
and only to take notice of those particulars in the others 
which differ from this. 

§. 4. And the office we are now upon being 
appointed for infants, it will be proper to premise In justiS! 1Sm 
a few general hints in relation to baptizing them. 
For that reason I shall here observe, that as baptism was ap- 
pointed for the same end that circumcision was, and did suc- 
ceed in the place of it ; it is reasonable it should be admin- 
istered to the same kinds of persons. For since God 
commanded infants to be circumcised, 16 it is not to be doubted 
but that he would also have them to be baptized. Nor is it 
necessary that Christ should particularly mention children in 
his commission : 17 it is sufficient that he did not except 
them : for that supposeth he intended no alteration in this 
particular, but that children should be initiated into the Chris- 
tian as well as into the Jewish religion. And indeed if we 
consider the custom of the Jews at that time, it is impossible 
but that the Apostles, to whom he delivered his commission, 
must necessarily understand him as speaking of children, as 
well as of grown or adult persons. For it is well known that the 
Jews baptized, as well as circumcised, all prose- a custom among 
lytes of the nations or Gentiles that were con- the Jews to bap- 
verted to their religion. And if any of those tize infants ' 
converts had infant children then born to them, they also 
were, at their father's desire, both circumcised and baptized, 
if males ; or if females, only baptized, and so admitted as 

16 Gen. xvii. 12. " Matt, xxviii. 18. 



328 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chat. V 



proselytes. The child's inability to declare or promise for 
himself was not looked upon as a bar against his reception 
into the covenant : but the desire of the father to dedicate 
him to God, was accounted available and sufficient to justify 
his admission.* Nor does the ceremony of baptism appear to 
have been used amongst the Jews upon such extraordinary 
occasions only ; but it seems rather to have been an ordinary 
rite constantly administered by them, as well to their own as 
to the children of proselytes ; for the Mishna prescribes the 
solemn washing, as well as the circumcision of the child, 
which I know not how to interpret, if it is not to be under- 
stood of a Baptismal Washing. 15 

XT . ± u . This therefore being the constant practice of 

No alteration m . T , o • i • • 

that respect in- the Jews, and our baviour m his commission 
Saviour^ ° Ur making no exception, but bidding his Apostles go 

and disciple all nations, baptizing them, &c, 
I think that is a sufficient argument to prove, that he intend- 
ed no alteration in the objects of Baptism, but only to exalt 
the action of baptizing to a nobler purpose, and a larger use. 
For when a commission is given in so few words, and there is 
no express direction what they should do with the infants of 
those who become disciples ; the natural and obvious inter- 
pretation is, that they must do in that matter as they and the 
Church in which they lived had always used to do. And we 
may assure ourselves, that had the Apostles left children out 
of the covenant, and not received them as members of the 
Church ; the Jews, who took such care that their children 
should not want their own sacrament of initiation, would cer- 
tainly have urged this as a great objection against the Chris- 
tian religion. But we do not read of any such objection ever 
made, and therefore we may depend upon it, that the Apostles 
gave them no room for it. 

It is true indeed, it has been often objected to 
Si^Ne^TeSL 11S ' tnat tne Scriptures make no express mention 
ment no argu- of the Baptism of Infants ; to which we might re- 
nifan^Baptism. pty» were the objection true, that neither do the 

Scriptures make any express mention of the alter- 

* This is only to be understood of such children as were horn before their parents 
tnemselves were baptized : for all the children that were born to them afterwards, they 
reckoned were clean by their birth, as being born of parents that were cleansed from 
the polluted state of heathenism, and were in the covenant of Abraham, and so natural 
Jews." 

18 Misna de Sabbato, c. 19, §. 19. Vide et It. Obadiah de Bartenora, et Maimon. in 
loc. 19 See this, and what is said above, proved at large in Dr. Wall's Introduction to 
his History of Infant-Eaptism. 



introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF IXFAXTS. 



329 



ation of the Sabbath : and yet I believe there are but few of 
those who are of a different opinion from us, in the point be- 
fore us, but who think the observation of the first day of the 
week is sufficiently authorized from the New Testament : and 
yet this is not more clearly implied than the other. We read 
in several places of whole households being baptized?* with- 
out any exception of their infants or children. Now it is very 
unlikely that there should be so many households without 
children ; and therefore, since none such are excepted, we 
may conclude that they were baptized as well as the rest of 
the family : only the Baptism of adult persons being more for 
the honour of the Christian religion, the holy writers chose 
only to name the chief persons baptized, thinking it sufficient 
to include their children and servants under the general terms 
of all theirs, or their households. And what 
makes it still more probable that children were th^XewTesta- 
really included in these terms is, that the Scrip- "^"SnsJ 8 
tures no where mention the deferring the Baptism the Antlpaedo- 
of any Christian's child, or the putting it off till Situs Sa " 
he came to years of discretion. An argument 
that surely may as justly be urged against the adversaries to 
Infant-Baptism, as the silence of the Scriptures is against us. 

But it seems this objection of the silence ot the i n f an t-Baptism 
Scriptures is not true. For the learned Dr. proved from the 
Wall has sufficiently rescued a passage in the ^ Testame ^ 
New Testament from the gloss of the moderns ; and shewed, 
both by comparing it with other texts in Scripture, and from 
the interpretation of the ancients, that it cannot fairly be un- 
derstood in any other sense than of the Baptism' of Infants. 
The passage I mean is a text in St. Paul's first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, 21 Else were your children unclean, but now are 
they holy : on which he shews from several places of the Old 
Testament," (i. e. from the original texts, and the intepret- 
ation given of them by the learned Jews,) that to sanctify or 
make holy, was a common expression among the Jews for 
baptiziiig or mashing. 7 * It is also plain from the New Testa- 
ment, that the same expression is twice used by this same 
Apostle in this same sense, viz. once in the Epistle from 
whence this text is taken,- 4 and once again in his Epistle to 



M Actsxvi. 15, 33. 1 Cor.i. 1G. 21 Chap. vii. 14. 22 E.xod. xix. 10. Levit. vi. 
11. 2 Sam. xi. 4. Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part i. chap. 11, §. 11. 
^ 1 Cor.vi. 11. 



330 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chat. VII. 



the Ephesians. 25 He also refers to a learned author to shew, 
that it was a common phrase with the ancients, to say that an 
infant or other person was sanctified or made holy, when they 
meant that he was baptized. 26 Some instances of which he 
also gives himself, as they come in his way upon other occa- 
sions. 27 And it is certain, that this sense of this place in St. 
Paul very much illustrates what goes before. The Apostle 
was directing, that if any man or woman had a husband or 
wife that did not believe, they should not separate or part, if 
the unbelieving person was still willing to cohabit ; the reason 
of which he says is, because the unbelieving husband is sancti- 
fied, or, (as it is in the Greek, and as all commentators agree 
it should be translated,) an unbelieving husband has been 
sanctified by the wife ; i. e. it has often come to pass, that an 
unbelieving husband has been brought to the faith, and so to 
Baptism, by his wife ; and an unbelieving wife has, in the same 
sense, been sanctified by her husband. As a proof of which 
he observes in the close, Else would your children be un- 
clean, but now are they holy ; i. e. if it were not so, or if the 
wickedness or infidelity of the unbelieving party did usually 
prevail, the children of such would generally be kept unbap- 
tized, and so be unclean : but now, by the grace of God, we 
see a contrary effect ; for they are generally baptized, and so 
become sanctified or holy. This exposition (as Dr. Wall ob- 
serves) is so much the more probable, because there has been 
no other sense of those words yet given by expositors, but 
what is liable to much dispute : and that sense especially, 
which is given by our adversaries, (viz. of Legitimacy in op- 
position to Bastardy,) seems the most forced and far-fetched 
of all. 

But though we could not be able to produce 
proved "fromtSe ^ rom Scripture any express mention of the Bap- 
writings of the tism of Infants; yet when we descend to the 
thers. anCient Fa " writers of the next succeeding ages, we have all 
their testimonies unanimous on our side. And 
surely they must be allowed to be competent witnesses of 
what was done by the Apostles themselves. They could tell 
whether themselves or their fathers were baptized in their 
infancy, or whether it was the Apostles' doctrine or advice to 



& Eph. v. 26 . 25 Mr. Walker's Modest Plea for Infant-Baptism, chap. 29. 
27 Dr. Wall, ut supra, and chap. 15, §. 2, chap. 18, §. 4, and chap. 19, §. 19. See also 
his Defence of his History against Mr. Gale, p. 363, &c. 



introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



331 



stay till they were grown up to years of maturity. But now 
in none of these do we meet with any thing that favours the 
opinion of our adversaries, but almost in all of them a direct 
confutation of their errors. In some of them we have express 
and direct mention of the practice of the Church in baptizing 
Infants ; and even in those in whose way it does not come to 
say any thing as to the age when Baptism should be adminis- 
tered, we have frequent sentences from whence it may be in- 
ferred by way of implication. St. Clement, in the Apostles' 
time, speaks of Original Sin as affecting Infants : 28 if so, then 
Baptism is necessary to wash it away. Justin Martyr affirms, 
that Baptism is to us in the stead of Circumcision ; 29 from 
whence we may fairly conclude, that it ought to be ad- 
ministered to the same kinds of persons. In another place, 3 * 
he mentions several persons who were discipled (or made 
disciples) to Christ whilst children : which plainly intimates, 
that children may be made disciples, and consequently may 
be baptized. For the only objection of the Antipsedobaptists 
against Infant-Baptism, is their incapacity of being made dis- 
ciples. Now here they may perceive that, if Justin rightly 
understood the word, children may be disciples. And it is 
worth observing, that the persons he here speaks of are said 
to be sixty and seventy years old : and therefore if they were 
discipled and baptized when children, it follows they must be 
baptized even in the days of the Apostles. But to proceed : 
Irenaeus, who lived but a little after Justin, reckons Infants 
among those who were born again to God. 31 A phrase which, 
in most ecclesiastical writers, and especially in Ireneeus, is 
generally used to signify that Regeneration, which is the 
effect of Baptism. 32 And that this must be the sense of the 
word here is plain, because Infants are not capable of being 
born again in any other sense. Tertullian again, a few years 
after him, speaks of Infant-Baptism as the general practice of 
his time ; though by the heretical notions which it is probable 
he had then imbibed, he thought the deferring of it was more 
profitable. 33 In the next century, Origen, in several places, 
expressly assures us that Infants were baptized by the usage of 
the Church^ And lastly, about the year 250, (which was but 

28 Clem. Rom. Eph. i. ad Cor. cap. xvii. 29 Dialog, cum Tryph. p. 59, ed. Steph. 
30 Just. Martyr. Apol. 1, prope ab initio. 31 Omnes enim venit per semetipsum sal- 
vare: omnes inquam qui per eum renascuntur in Deum ; Infantes et Parvulos, et 
Pueros, et Juvenes, et Seniores. Irenaeus adv. Haeres. 1. 2, c. 39. 32 See this provecJ 
at large in Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part i. chap. 3. 33 Tertull. de Bapt, 
c. 18. 34 Orig. Horn. 8, in Lev. xii. xiii. part i. p. 90. Horn. 14, in Luc. ii. part iu 
p. 142, L. 



332 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[CHAP. VI 



150 years after the Apostles,) St. Cyprian, with sixty-six 
bishops in council with him, declared all unanimously, that 
none were to be hindered from Baptism and the grace of 
God : " Which rule," saith he, " as it holds for all, so we 
think it more especially to be observed in reference to Infants, 
and persons newly born." 35 * The same might be shewn 
from all the other Fathers of the three first centuries, who all 
speak of it as a doctrine, settled and established from the be- 
ginning of Christianity, without once questioning or opposing 
it ; which certainly they would have done in some or other 
of their works, had they known it to have been an innovation, 
contrary to the doctrine or practice of the Apostles. 

But I have already been too long upon a single particular, 
and must therefore refer the more inquisitive reader to the 
learned labours of an eminent divine, 30 who has exhausted the 
subject to the satisfaction and honour of the English Church. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Offices. 

I. It appeareth by ancient writeis, (as was 
Jsmlomier^ 11 " expressed in the rubric till the last review,) 
administered that the Sacrament of Baptism in the old time 
and^vmfsuntide. was n °t commonly ministered but at two times 
in the year, at Easter and at Whitsuntide : at 
Easter, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection, of which 
baptism is a figure ; 37 and at "Whitsuntide, in remembrance of 
the three thousand souls baptized by the Apostles at that 
time. 38 For this reason in the Western Church, all that were 
born after Easter were kept until Whit-Sunday ; and all that 
were born after Whit-Sunday were reserved until next Easter : 
unless some imminent danger of death hastened the adminis- 
tration of it before. 39 Though in the Eastern Church, the 
feast of Epiphany was also assigned for the administration of 
this Sacrament, in memory of our Saviour's being, as it is 
supposed, baptized upon that day. 40 And about the eighth or 
ninth century, the time for solemn baptism was enlarged even 
in the Latin Church, all Churches being moved by reason of 
the thing, to administer baptism (as at first) at all times of the 
year. 41 

* This consultation was held, not to decide whether Infants were to be baptized, 
(that they took for granted,) but whether they might regularly be baptized before the 
eighth day. Upon which the resolution of the whole Council was formed, that Baptism 
;s to be denied to none that is born. 

35 Cvpr. Ep. 64, p. 15S. 36 Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism. 3 " Rom. vi. 4. 
23 Acts ii. 41. 39 Beatus Renanus in Tertull. de Coron. Milit. *o Greg. Naz. 

Orat. 40, vol. i. p. 54, A. 41 See this proved in Dr. Nichols's note (h) upon this rubric. 



SECT. I.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



333 



But yet though the custom above mentioned Tobeadminis 
he now grown out of use, and (as the old rubric terednowonly 
^oes on) cannot, for mam/ considerations, be upon sunda/s 

77 7 • • • 7 •» . 7 z> 77 or holy-days. 

well restored again ; it is thought good to follow 
the same, as near as conveniently may be. And therefore 
our present rubric still orders, that the people be admonished, 
that it is most convenient that baptism should not be adminis- 
tered but upon Sundays and other ' holy-days, when the most 
number of people come together: as well for that the congrega- 
tion there present may testify the receiving of them that be 
newly baptized into the number of Christ's Church ; as also 
because in the baptism of infants every man present may be 
put in remembrance of his own profession made to God in his 
baptism. For this cause also it is further declared expedient, 
that baptism be administered in the vulgar tongue. Neverthe- 
less {if necessity so require) children may be bap- 
tized upon any other day, or (as it was worded E of e nLessity? S 
in the old Common Prayers) children may at all 
times be baptized at home ; or lastly, as it was expressed in the 
first book of king Edward, either at Church or else at home. 

§. 2. But then it is to be observed, that if the ^ } 
occasion be so urgent as to require baptism at and scandal ofad- 
home, the Church has provided a particular office SSJatSw ^ 
for the administration of it : which directs, that e ' 
the essential parts of the sacrament be administered immedi- 
ately in private ; but defers the performance of the other 
solemnities till the child can be brought into the church. As 
to the office we are now upon, it is by no means to be used in 
any place but the church. It is ordered to be said at the font, 
in the middle of the morning or evening prayer, and all along 
supposes a congregation to be present; and particularly in one 
of the addresses which the Priest is to use, it is very absurd 
for him to tell the godfathers and godmothers in a chamber, 
that tliey have brought the child thither to be baptized, when 
he himself is brought thither to baptize it. It is still more 
absurd for him in such a place to use that expression, Grant 
that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office and min- 
istry, &cc. For he knows that the word here cannot be ap- 
plicable to the place he is in : nor yet has he any authority to 
omit or alter the form. 

If we look back into the practice of the primitive Church, 
we shall find that the place where this solemn act was per- 



334 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap. vii. 



formed was at first indeed unlimited : In any place where 
there was water, as Justin Martyr tells us; 42 in ponds or 
lakes, in springs or rivers, as Tertullian speaks ; 43 but always 
as near as might be to the place of their public assemblies. 
For it was never (except upon extraordinary occasions) done 
without the presence of the congregation. A rule the primi- 
tive Christians so zealously kept to, that the Trullan Council 
does not allow this holy sacrament to be administered even in 
chapels that were appropriate or private, but only in the public 
or parish churches ; punishing the persons offending, if clergy, 
with deposition ; if laity, with excommunication. 44 

In our own Church indeed, since our unhappy confusions, 
this office hath been very frequently made use of in private ; 
and some Ministers have thought themselves, to prevent the 
greater mischief of separation, necessitated to comply with 
the obstinacy of the greater and more powerful of their 
parishioners : who, for their ease or humour, or for the con- 
venience of a more splendid and pompous christening, re- 
solving to have their children baptized at home, if their own 
Minister refuse it, will get some other to do it. 

But such persons ought calmly to consider how contrary to 
reason and the plain design of the institution of this sacra- 
ment, this perverse custom, and their obstinate persisting in 
it, is. For what is the end of that sacred ordinance, but to 
initiate the person into the Church of Christ, and to entitle 
him to the privileges of it ? And where can there be a better 
representation of that society, than in a congregation assem- 
bled after the most solemn and conspicuous manner for the 
worship of God, and for the testifying of their communion in 
it ? Where can the profession be more properly made before 
such admission ; where the stipulation given, where the pro- 
mise to undertake the duties of a Christian, but in such an 
assembly of Christians ? How then can all this be done in 
confusion and precipitance, without any timely notice or pre- 
paration, in private, in the corner of a bed-chamber, parlour, 
or kitchen, (where I have known it to be administered,) and 
there perhaps out of a basin, or pipkin, a tea-cup, or a punch- 
bowl, (as the excellent Dr. Wall with indignation observes, 45 ) 
and in the presence of only two or three, or scarce so many 
as may be called a congregation ? The ordinance is certainly 

42 Apol. 1, c. 79, p. 516, lin. 8, 9. * 3 De Bapt. c. 4. p. 225, C. 44 Can. 59, torn. v» 
col. 1170, A. * 5 See Dr. Wall against Mr. Gaie, p. 405. 



SECT. I.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



335 



public ; public in the nature and end of it, and therefore such 
ought the celebration of it to be ; the neglect whereof is the 
less excusable, because it is so easily remedied. 

II. The next rubric (which was added at the 
last review) is concerning the godfathers and ^nai^nd^n- 
godmothers. The use of which in the Christian tiquityof godfa- 
Church was derived from the Jews, as well as the mothers? S ° d 
initiation of infants itself. 46 And it is by some 
believed that the witnesses mentioned by Isaiah at the naming 
of his sonf' were of the same nature with these sureties. 48 

8. 2. In the primitive Church they were so _,. ^ ■ 

o . r n i • n i ■ TJie use of them. 

early, that it is not easy to nx the time of their 
beginning. Some of the most ancient Fathers make men- 
tion of them, 49 and through all the successive ages afterwards 
we find the use of- them continued, without any scruple or in- 
terruption, till the Anabaptists, and other Puritans of late 
years, raised some idle clamours against them. Some of these 
I shall have a proper place to speak to hereafter. In the mean 
while I desire to observe in general, that since the laws of all 
nations (because infants cannot speak for themselves) have 
allowed them guardians to contract for them in secular mat- 
ters ; which contracts, if they be fair and beneficial, the in- 
fants must make good when they come to age ; it cannot, one 
would think, be unreasonable for the Church to allow them 
spiritual guardians, to promise those things in their name, 
without which they cannot obtain salvation. And this too, 
at the same time, gives security to the Church, Whenc called 
that the children shall not apostatize, from sureties, wit- 
whence they are called sureties ; provides mon- " a e t ^ s ' god " 
itors to every Christian, to remind them of the 
vow which they made in their presence, from whence they are 
called witnesses ; and better represents the new birth, by 
giving the infants new and spiritual relations, whence they are 
termed godfathers and godmothers. 

§. 3. How long the Church has fixed the num- 
ber of these sureties, I cannot tell : but by a con- The Xm? r of 
stitution of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, 
A. D. 1236, 50 and in a synod held at Worcester, A. D. 1240, 51 

43 See this proved in Dr. Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 119. *' Isaiah viii. 2. 48 Vid. 
Jun. etTremel. in locum. 4y npocrpepovref, Just. Mart, ad Orthodoxos. 'Avddoxpi, 
Dionys. Areop. Eccles. Hier. c. 2, p. 77, B. C Sponsores, Tert. de Bapt. c. IS, p. 231, C. 
Fidejussores, Augustin. Serm. 1GS, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 329, C 50 Bp. Gib- 
son's Codex, vol. i. p. 439. 51 Synod. Wigorn. cap. 5, apud. Concil. per Labbee, torn, 
xi. par. i, col. 575, C. 



336 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap. vii. 



I find the same provision made as is now required by our ru- 
bric, viz. That there should be for every male child that is to 
be baptized, two godfathers and one godmother, and for every 
female one godfather and two godmothers. 

§. 4. By the twenty-ninth canon of our Church, 
«on S q o? P i fi r C sons no P are nt & to be admitted to answer as godfa- 
t be admitted ther for his own child. 52 For the parents are 
|odm 1 thers and already engaged under such strict bonds, both by 

nature and religion, to take care of their chil- 
dren's education, that the Church does not think she can 
lay them under greater : but still makes provision, that if, 
notwithstanding these obligations, the parents should be 
negligent, or if it should please God to take them to him- 
self before their children be grown up ; there yet may be 
others, upon whom it shall lie to see that the children do not 
want due instructions, by means of such carelessness, or death 
of their parents. And fon a further prevention of people's 
entering upon this charge, before they are capable of under- 
standing the trust they take upon themselves, it is further 
provided by the above-mentioned canon, that no person be 
admitted godfather or godmother, before the said person so un- 
dertaking hath received the holy Communion. 

Rubric 3 ^ ien tnere are children to be baptized, 

1 ' the parents shall give knowledge thereof over 
night, or in the morning, before the beginning of Morning 
Prayer, to the Curate. And then the godfathers and godmo- 
thers, and the 'people with the children must be ready at the font* 

so called, I suppose, because Baptism, at the be- 
Fon caii7d. y S ° ginning of Christianity, was performed in springs 

or fountains. They were at first built near the 
church, then in the church-porch, and afterwards (as it is now 

usual amongst us) placed in the church itself, but 
the bwe^endof keeping the lower end, to intimate that Bap- 
the church. tism is the entrance into the mystical Church. 
Formerly very In the primitive times we meet with them very 
large. large and capacious, not only that they might 

* " Must be ready at the churcb-door." So the first book of king Edward, which also 
orders in the last rubric at the end of the Office, that " if the number of children to be 
baptized, and the multitude of people present be so great that they cannot conveniently 
stand at the church-door, then let them stand within the church in some convenient 
place, nigh unto the church-door ; and there all things to be said and done appointed to 
be said and done at the church-door." 

52 See also Queen Elizabeth's Advertisements, A. D. 1564, in Bishop Sparrow's Cot 
lection, page 125. 



SECT. II.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



337 



comport with the general customs of those times, viz. of per- 
sons being immersed or put under water ; but also because 
the stated times of Baptism returning so seldom, great num- 
bers were usually baptized at the same time. In the middle 
of them was always a partition; the one part for men, the other 
for women ; that so, by being baptized asunder, they might 
avoid giving offence and scandal. But immersion being now 
too generally discontinued, they have shrunk into little small 
fonts, scarce bigger than mortars, and only employed to hold 
less basins with water, though this last be expressly contrary 
to an ancient advertisement of our Church. 53 It is still indeed 
required that there be a font in every church 
made of stone ,- 54 because, saith Durand, 55 the Wh >\™ deof 
water that typified Baptism in the wilderness 
flowed from a rock, 56 and because Christ, who gave forth the 
living water, is in Scripture called the Corner-Stone and the 
Rock. 

§. 2. At this font the children, &c, are to be 
ready, either immediately after the last Lesson at ^performed 7 10 
morning prayer, or else immediately after the second 
last Lesson at evening prayer, as the Curate by e 
his discretion shall appoint. The reason of which I take to 
be, because by that time the whole congregation is supposed 
to be assembled ; which shews the irregularity (which prevails 
much in some churches) of putting ofT christenings till the 
whole service is over, and so reducing them (by the departing 
of the congregation) to almost private baptism. 

Sect. II. — Of the preparative Prayers and Exhortations, to 
be used before the Administration of Baptism, 

I. The people with the children, being ready, 
and the Priest coming to the font, {which is then The tS n . ques " 
to be filled with pure water,) as our present ru- 
bric directs, and standing there, is, in the first place, to ask, 
IVhether the child has been already baptized or no ? The 
reason of which is, because Baptism is never to be repeated : 
for as there is but one Lord and one Faith, so there is but 
one Baptism.^ And in the primitive Church, those that 
stood up so earnestly for rebaptizing those who had been bap- 
53 See the Advertisements of Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1564, in Bishop Sparrow, p. 125. 
« Canon XVIII. *s Rational. Div. Offic. 1. 6, c. 82, num. 25, fol. 364. 56 Exod. 
xvii. 6. 57 Eph. iv. 5. 

Z 



338 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[CHAP. VII. 



tized by heretics, did not look upon that as a second Baptism, 
but esteemed that which had been conferred by heretics as 
invalid ; seeing heretics, being out of the Church, could not 
give what they had not. 53 And others, rather than repeat 
that sacrament, allowed even that Baptism to be valid which 
M r as administered by heretics, if it appeared that it had been 
performed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost. 

II. If the Minister be answered, that the child 

The tira.° rta " nath not been baptized, he then begins the so- 
lemnity with an exhortation to prayer ; for there 
being a mutual covenant in this sacrament between God and 
man, so vast a disproportion between the parties, and so great 
a condescension on the part of the Almighty, (who designs 
only our advantage by it, and is moved by nothing but his- 
own free grace to agree to it,) it is very reasonable the whole 
solemnity should be begun with an humble address to God. 
The two ra ers -For which purpose follow two prayers: 

e wo prayers. ^ ^ £ rst ^ w hi c h we commemorate how God 

did typify this salvation, which he now gives by Baptism, in 
saving Noah and his family by water, 59 and by carrying the 
Israelites safe through the lied Sea, 60 as also how Christ him- 
self, by being baptized, sanctified water to the mystical wash- 
ing away of sin $ and upon these grounds, we pray that God 
by his Spirit will wash and sanctify this child that he may 
be delivered from his wrath, received into the ark of his 
Church, and so filled with grace as to live holily here, and 
happily hereafter.* 

In the second prayer, to express our earnestness and im- 
portunity, we again renew our address, requesting, first, That 
this child may be pardoned and regenerated ; and, secondly, 
That it may be adopted and accepted by Almighty God. 

§. 2. Between these two prayers in king Ed- 
SSpeSSS* ward ' s first Liturgy, the Priest was to ask the 
baptized in the name of the child of its godfathers and god- 
ChurchT 6 mothers, and then to make a cross upon its 
forehead and breast, saying, 

N. Receive the sign of the holy cross both in thy forehead 
and in thy breast, in token that thou shalt not be ashamed to 

* The first prayer in king Edward's hook was a little differently expressed ; but to 
the same sense, the language only being afterwards amended. 

58 Tret, de Bapt. c. 15, p. 230, B. Cyprian. Hist. Concil. Carthag. p. 229, &c. Apost. 
Const. 1. 6, c. 15. Cyril. Hieros. Praef. §. 4, p. 6. » 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. eo i Cor. x. 2. 



6ECT. II.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



3C9 



confess thy faith in Christ crucified ; and so on, as in our 
own form, only speaking all along to the child. This is now 
done only upon the forehead, and reserved till after the child 
is baptized : though it is manifest there were anciently in the 
primitive Church two several signings with the cross : viz. one 
before Baptism, 61 as was ordered by our first Liturgy ; and the 
other after it, which was used with Unction at the time of Con- 
firmation, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
"Why the crossing which we now retain is ordered after Bap- 
tism, will be shewn when I come to that part of the service. 

§. 3. After the second of these prayers, in the Exorcising an 
first Liturgy of king Edward, follows a form of ancient practice 
exorcism, which I have printed in the margin,* m Ba P tlsin - 
which was founded upon a custom that obtained in the ancient 
ages of the Church, to exorcise the person baptized, or to cast 
the Devil out of him, who was supposed to have taken pos- 
session of the catechumen in his unregenerate state. And it 
cannot be denied but that possessions by evil spirits were 
very frequent before the spreading of the Gospel, when we 
read that many of them were ejected through the name of 
Christ. But the use of exorcism, as an ordinary rite in the 
administration of Baptism, cannot well be proved from any 
earlier authors than the fourth century, when it was taken in 
to denote that persons, before they were regenerate by Bap- 
tism, were under the kingdom of darkness, and held by the 
power of sin and the Devil. 63 But it being urged by Bucer r 
in his censure of the Liturgy, that this exorcism was originally 
used to none but demoniacs, and that it was uncharitable to 
imagine that all were demoniacs who came to Baptism; 63 it 
was thought prudent by our reformers to leave it out of the 
Liturgy, when they took a review of it in the fifth and sixth 
of king Edward. But to proceed in our own office. 

IV. The people standing ?/», (which shews 

,1 , , v . i i "1 x i > „ ■ The Gospel, how 

that they were to kneel at the two foregoing properly chose. 

* Then let the Priest, looking upon the children, sav, 

I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the 'Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart from these infants, whom our Lord Jesus 
Christ hath vouchsafed to call to his holy Baptism, to be made members of his body, 
and of his holy congregation. Therefore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence, 
remember thy judgment, remember the day to be at hand, wherein thou shalt burn in 
fire everlasting, prepared for thee and thy angels. And presume not hereafter to ex- 
ercise any tyranny towards these infants.' whom Christ hath bought with his precious 
blood, and by this his holy Baptism calleth to be of his flock. 

61 Ambr. de iis qui initiantur. c. 4. August, de Svmbolo, 1. 2, c. 1. 68 Greg. Naz 
Orat. 40. Cyril. Hieros. in Praef. ad Catech. « Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 460. 

z 2 



340 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap. vii. 



prayers,) the Minister, in the next place, is to read to them 
a portion out of the Gospel of St. Mark.* Which, though 
anciently applied to the sacrament of Baptism, 64 has been 
censured by some as improper for this place ; because the 
children there mentioned were not brought to be baptized. 
But if people would but consider upon what account the Gos- 
pel is placed here, I cannot think but they would retract so 
impertinent a charge. In the making of a covenant, the ex- 
press consent of both parties is required : and therefore the 
covenant of Baptism being now to be made, between Al- 
mighty God and the child to be baptized ; it is reasonable, 
that, before the sureties engage in behalf of the infant, they 
should have some comfortable assurances that God on his part 
will be pleased to consent to and make good the agreement. 
For their satisfaction, therefore, the Priest, who is God's am- 
bassador, produces a warrant from Scripture, (the declaration 
of his will,) whereby it appears that God is willing to receive 
infants into his favour, and hath by Jesus Christ declared 
them capable of that grace and glory, which on God's part are 
promised in this baptismal covenant : wherefore the sureties 
need not fear to make the stipulation on theiripart, since they 
have God's own word that there is no impediment in children 
to make them incapable of receiving that which he hath 
promised, and will surely perform. 

An Exhortation From all which premises, the Church, in a 
brief exhortation that follows, concludes, that 
the sureties may cheerfully promise that which belongs to 
their part, since God by his Son hath given sufficient security 
that his part shall be accomplished. But this being the 
overflowings of God's pure mercy and goodness, and not 
owing to any merits or deserts in us, it is fit it should be ac- 
knowledged in an humble manner. 

V. And therefore next follows a thanksgiv- 

TheThanksgiv- {qy Qm Qwn ^ tQ th{J knowle dg e f, and 

faith in God, which we are put in mind of by 
this fresh occasion: and wherein we also beg of God to give 

* In the first book of king Edward, the Priest was to say, " The Lord be with you." 
The people were to answer, " And with thy spirit." And then followed the Gospel. 

t In the Common Prayer of 1549, the conclusion of this exhortation was thus : " Let 
us faithfully and devoutly give thanks unto him, and say the prayer which the Lord 
himself taught : and in declaration of our faith, let us also recite the articles contained 
in our Creed." Then the Minister, with the godfathers and godmothers and people 
present, were first to say the Lord's Prayer, and then the Creed. After which followed 
the Thanksgiving. 

<a Tert. de Baptismo, c. 18, p. 231. 



SECT. II.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



341 



a new instance of his goodness, by giving his holy Spirit to 
the infant now to be baptized, that so it may be born again, 
and made an heir of everlasting salvation. 

§. 2. After this thanksgiving in king Edward's An old ceremony 
first Liturgy, the Priest was to take one of the m king Edward's 
children by the right hand, the other being firstbook - 
brought after him ; and coming into the church toward the 
font (for all the former part of the service was then said at 
the church-door) he was to say, The Lord vouchsafe to re- 
ceive you into his holy household, and to keep and govern 
you always in the same, that you may have everlasting life. 
Amen. 

VI. And now no doubt remaining but that 

God is ready and willing to perform his part of ^e^IS? 
the covenant, so soon as the child shall promise 
on his ; the Priest addresses himself to the godfathers and 
godmothers to promise for him, and from them takes security 
that the infant shall observe the conditions that are required 
of him. And in this there is nothing strange or new; nothing 
which is not used almost in every contract. By an old law of 
the Romans, all magistrates were obliged, within five days 
after admission to their office, to take an oath to observe 
the laws. Now it happened that C. Valerius Flaccus was 
chosen edile, or overseer of the public buildings. But he be- 
ing before Flamen Dialis, or Jupiter's high priest, could not 
be admitted by the Romans to swear ; their laws supposing- 
that so sacred a person would voluntarily do what an oath 
would oblige him to. C. Valerius however desired that his 
brother, as his proxy, might be sworn in his stead : to this 
the commons agreed, and passed an act that it should be all 
the same as if the edile had sworn himself. 65 Much after the 
same manner, whenever kings are crowned in their infancy, 
some of the nobility, deputed to represent them, take the 
usual oaths. The same do ambassadors for their principals 
at the ratifying of leagues or articles ; and guardians for their 
minors, who are bound by the law to stand to what is con- 
tracted for them. Since then all nations and orders of men 
act by this method, why should it be charged as a fault upon 
the Church, that she admits infants to baptism, by sponsors 
undertaking for them ? 

VII. Having thus justified the reasonableness The stipulation 
of a vicarious stipulation, let us now proceed to to be made by 

65 Livii,lib. 31, c. 50. 



342 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[cHiP, VII. 



question and consider the form that is here used. It is drawn 

up all along by way of question and answer, 
which seems to have been the method even in the days of the 
Apostles : for St. Peter calls baptism the answer of a good 
conscience : 66 and in the primitive Church, queries were al- 
ways put to the persons baptized, which persons at age an- 
swered themselves, and children by their representatives, 67 
who are therefore to answer in the first person, (as the advo- 
cate speaks in the person of the client,) / renounce, &c, 
because the contract is properly made with the child. 

§. 2. For which reason, in the first book of 
In thl chUd 6 ° f king Edward, the priest is ordered to demand 

of the child these several questions proposed ; 
and in our present Liturgy, though the Minister directs him- 
self to the godfathers and godmothers, yet he speaks by them 
to the child, as is manifestly apparent from the third question : 
and consequently the child is supposed to return the several 
answers which are made by the godfathers, &c, and to pro- 
mise by those that are his sureties (as the above preface ex- 
presses it) that he will renounce the Devil and all his works, 
and constantly believe God's holy word, and obediently keep 
his Commandments. 

§. 3. The queries proposed are four, of which 
^TnZZf the last was added at the Restoration; there 

being but three of them in any of the former 
books, though in the first of king Edward they are broken 
into eight. They being all of them exceedingly suitable and 
proper, I think it not amiss to take notice of them severally. 
Query i §* ^' First, then, when we enter into covenant 

with God, we must have the same friends and ene- 
mies as he hath ; especially when the same that are enemies 
to him are also enemies to our salvation. And therefore, 
since children are by nature the slaves of the Devil, and, 
though they have not yet been actually in his service, will 
nevertheless be apt to be drawn into it, by the pomps and 
glory of the world, and the carnal desires of the flesh ; it is 
necessary to secure them for God betimes, and to engage them 
to take all these for their enemies, since whoso loveth them 
cannot love God. 68 

§. 5. Secondly, faith is a necessary qualifica- 
Query 2. ^ baptism ; 69 and therefore before Philip 

ee 1 Peter iii. 21. 67 Tertull. de Bapt. c. 18, p. 231, C. et S. August. Epist. 9S, Com. 
2, col. 267, F. 63 i John ii. 15. 69 Mark xvi. 1C. 



SECT. II.] 



OF PUPLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



343 



would baptize the eunuch, he asked him, if he believed with 
all his heart ; and received his answer that he believed Jesus 
to be the Son of God? From which remarkable precedent 
the Church hath ever since demanded of all those who enter 
into the Christian profession, if they believe all the Articles 
which are implied in that profession: and this was either 
done by way of question and answer, 71 or else the party bap- 
tized (if of age) was made to repeat the whole Creed. 73 

§. 6. But thirdly, it is not only necessary that 
the party to be baptized do believe the Christian uery 
faith ; but he must also desire to be joined to that society by 
the solemn rite of initiation : wherefore the child is further 
demanded, whether he will be baptized in this faith ,- because 
God will have no unwilling servants, nor ought men to be 
compelled by violence to religion. And yet the Christian re- 
ligion is so reasonable and profitable, both as to this world 
and the next, that the godfathers may very well presume to 
answer for the child, that this is his desire : since if the child 
could understand the excellency of this religion, and speak its 
mind, it would without doubt be ready to make the same reply. 

§. 7. Lastly, St. Paul tells us, they that are Que 4 
baptized must walk in newness of life : 73 for 
which reason the child is demanded, fourthly. If he will keep 
God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same 
all the days of his life? For since he now takes Christ for his 
Lord and Master, and lists himself under his banner, it is fit 
he should vow, in the words of this sacrament, to observe 
the commands of his general. Wherefore as he promised to 
forsake all evil before, so now he must engage to do all that is 
good, without which he cannot be admitted into the Chris- 
tian Church. 

§. 8. I cannot conclude this section till I have This baptismal 
observed, that this whole stipulation is so exactly vow very primi- 
conformable to that which was used in the pri- tlve ' 
mitive Church, that it cannot be unpleasant to compare them 
together. All that were to be baptized were brought to the 
entrance of the baptistery or font, and standing with their faces 
towards the west, (which being directly opposite to the east, 
the place of light, did symbolically represent the prince of 
darkness, whom they were to renounce,) were commanded to 

7a Acts viii. 37. 71 Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, p. 285. Ambr. de Sacr. 1. 2, c. 
7, torn. vi. cel. 360, K. 72 Aug. Serm. 58, in Matt. vi. torn. v. col. 337, D. E. 
73 Horn. vi. 4. 



344 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap. vit. 



stretch out their hands as it were in defiance of him ; and then 
the bishop asked them every one, " Dost thou renounce the 
Devil and all his works, powers, and service ? " To which each 
party answered, " I do renounce them." — " Dost thou re- 
nounce the world, and all its pomps and vanities ? " Answer, 
"I do renounce them." 74 In the next place they made an 
open confession of their faith, the bishop asking, " Dost thou 
believe in God the Father Almighty, &c, in Jesus Christ his 
only Son our Lord, who, &c. Dost thou believe in the Holy 
Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, and in one baptism of re- 
pentance for remission of sins, and the life everlasting ? " To 
all which each party answered, " I do believe ; " as our Church 
still requires in this office. 75 

Sect. III. — Of the Administration of Baptism. 

The prayer for ^ The contract being now made, it is fit the 
thesanctification Minister should more peculiarly intercede with 
of the child. q q( j ^ or g race ^ Q perform it ; and therefore, in 
the next place, he offers up four short petitions for the child's 
sanctification. Most of our commentators upon the Common 
Prayer think, that they were added to supply the place of the 
old Exorcisms. But it is certain they were placed in the first 
book of king Edward with no such intent. For by that (as I 
have observed) a form of Exorcism was to be used over every 
child that was brought to be baptized : whereas these petitions 
were only to be used at such times as the water in the font 
was to be changed and consecrated, which was not then order- 
ed to be done above once a month. For which reason the 
form for consecrating it did not, as now, make a part of the 
public office for baptism, but was placed by itself, at the end 
of the office for the administration of it in private, (i. e. at the 
end of the whole ; for there was no office then for the baptism 
of such as are of riper years.) 

And for the con- The form that was used then was something 
secration of the different from what we use now. It was intro- 
duced with a prayer, that was afterwards left out 
at the second review.* And these petitions that are still re- 

* " Omost merciful God our Saviour Jesu Christ, who hast ordained the element of 
water for the regeneration of thy faithful people, upon whom, being baptized in the 

74 Const. Apost. 1. 7, c. 41. Dion. Areop. de Eccles. Hier. c. 2, p. 77, D. Ambr. de 
Init. c. 2, torn. iv. col. 343, K. De Sacrament. 1. 1, c. 2, torn. iv. col. 354, A. 75 Const 
Apost. 1. 7, c. 41. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, p. 285. Ambr. de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 1 
torn. iv. col. 3G0, K. 



SECT. III.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



345 



tained, ran then in the plural number, and the future tense, 
in the behalf of all that should be baptized till the water 
should be changed again. And this is the reason that the last 
of these petitions still runs in general terms, it being con- 
tinued word for word from the old form. Between the two 
last also were four other petitions inserted, which are now 
omitted.* And after all (the usual salutation intervening, 
viz. The Lord be with you, And with thy spirit) followed 
the prayer, which we still retain for the consecration of the 
water. There is some little difference in it towards the con- 
clusion, because the water being sanctified by the first prayer 
above mentioned, there was no occasion to repeat the conse- 
cration in this ; for which reason the words then, and in all 
the books to the last review, ran in this form : Regard, ive 
beseech thee, the supplications of thy congregation, and grant 
that all thy servants, which shall be baptized in this water, 
prepared for the ministration of thy holy Sacrament, [which 
we here bless and dedicate in thy name to this spiritual tvash- 
ing,^~\ may receive the fulness of thy grace ; and so on. 

Of this form Bucer, in his Censure, 76 could by no means 
approve. Such blessings and consecrations of things inanimate 
tends strangely (he tells us) to create in people's minds terrible 
notions of magic or conjuration. He allows such consecra- 
tions indeed to be very ancient, but however they are not to 
be found in the word of God. At the second reformation 
therefore, the Common Prayer Book comes out with all that 
relates directly to the consecration of the water omitted. The 

river of Jordan, the Holy Ghost came down in the likeness of a dove ; send down, we 
beseech thee, the same thy Holy Spirit to assist us, and to be present at this our invo- 
cation of thy holy name : sanctify-f-this fountain of baptism, thou that art the sanctilier 
of all things, that by the power of thy word, all those that shall be baptized therein, 
may be spiritually'jegenerated, and made the children of everlasting adoption. Amen." 
This was the first prayer for the consecrating of the water in the first Common Prayer, 
From whence these words, " Sanctify this fountain of baptism, thou that art the sanc- 
tifier of all things," were taken by the compilers of the Scotch form, and inserted within 
crotchets [ ] in the first prayer at the beginning of the office after the words — " mys- 
tical washing away of sin ; " against which was added a direction in the margin — That 
"the water in the font should be changed twice in the month at least. And before any 
child should be baptized in the water so changed, the Presbyter or Minister should say 
at the font the words thus enclosed []." 

* Whosoever shall confess thee, O Lord, recognise him also in thy kingdom. Amen. 

Grant that all sin and vice here may be so extinct, that they never have power to 
reign in thy servants. Amen. 

Grant that whosoever here shall begin to be of thy flock, may evermore continue in 
the same. Amen. 

Grant that all they which for thy sake, in this life, do deny and forsake themselves, 
may win and purchase thee, O Lord, which art everlasting treasure. Amen, 
t The words thus enclosed [ ] are only in the Scotch Liturgy. 

7 «s Script. Anglican, p. 481. 



346 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap, vil 



first prayer above mentioned was left out entirely, and the last 
purged from those words, 'prepared for the ministration of the 
holy Sacrament. And thus the form continued till the last 
review, when a clause was again added to invocate the Spirit, 
to sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin. 
Now by this is meant, not that the water contracts any new 
quality in its nature or essence, by such consecration ; but 
only that it is sanctified or made holy in its use, and separated 
from common to sacred purposes. In order to which, though 
the primitive Christians believed, as well as we do, that water 
in general was sufficiently sanctified by the baptism of our 
Saviour in the river Jordan ; 77 yet when any particular water 
was at any time used in the administration of baptism, they 
were always careful to consecrate it first by a solemn invoca- 
tion of the Holy Spirit. 78 

II. All things being thus prepared for the bap- 
Na a™Ba^i y sSr eD tism of the child > the Minister is now to take it 
into his hands, and to ask the godfathers and 
godmothers to name it. For the Christian name being given 
as a badge that we belong to Christ, we cannot more properly 
take it upon us, than when we are enlisted under his banner. 
We bring one name into the world with us, which we derive 
from our parents, and which serves to remind us of our ori- 
ginal guilt, and that we are born in sin : but this new name is 
given us at our baptism, to remind us of our new birth, when, 
being washed in the laver of regeneration, we are thereby 
cleansed from our natural impurities, and become in a manner 
new creatures, and solemnly dedicate ourselves to God. So 
that the naming of children at this time hath been thought by 
many to import something more than ordinary, and to carry 
with it a mysterious signification. We find something like it 
even among the heathens : for the Romans had a custom of 
naming their children on the day of their lustration, (i. e. when 
they were cleansed and washed from their natural pollution,) 
which was therefore called Dies nominalis. And the Greeks 
also, when they carried their infants, a little after their birth, 
about the fire, (which was their ceremony of dedicating or 
consecrating them to their gods,) were used at the same time 
to give them their names. 

77 Ignat. ad Ephes. §. 18. Greg. Naz. Ei? ra Tevt6\. See aiso St. Jerome and St. Am- 
brose. ~< 8 Cyprian. Ep. 70, p. 190. Amor, de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 5, torn. iv. col. 359, K. 
.Basil, de Spir. Sanct. c. 27, torn. ii. p. 211, A. 



SECT. III.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



347 



And that the Jews named their children at the time of cir- 
cumcision, the holy Scriptures, 79 as well as their own writers, 
expressly tell us. And though the rite itself of circumcision 
was changed into that of baptism by our Saviour, yet he made 
no alteration as to the time and custom of giving the name, 
but left that to continue under the new, as he had found it 
under the old dispensation. Accordingly we find this time 
assigned and used to this purpose ever since : the Christians 
continuing from the earliest ages to name their children at the 
time of baptism. And even people of riper years commonly 
changed their name, (as Saul, saith St. Ambrose, 80 at that time 
changed his name to Paul,) especially if the name they had 
before was taken from any idol or false god. For Heathen orwan . 
the Nicene Council forbids the giving of heathen ton names pro- 
names to Christians, and recommends the giving hlblted - 
the name of some apostle or saint : 81 not that there is any for- 
tune or merit in the name itself, but that, by such means, the 
party might be stirred up to imitate the example of that holy 
person whose name he bears. And by a provincial constitu- 
tion of our own Church, made by archbishop Peccham, A. D. 
1281, it is provided, that no wanton names be given to chil 
dren ; or if they be, that they be changed at Confirmation. 82 

§. 2. As to the appointment of the name, it To be given by 
may be pitched upon by the relations, (as we the godfathers, 
may see has been the custom of old:) 83 but the andwh y- 
rubric directs that it be dictated by the godfathers and god- 
mothers. For this being the token of our new birth, it is fit 
it should be given by those who undertake for our Christian- 
ity, and engage that we shall be bred up and live like Chris- 
tians ; which being confirmed by the custom and authority of 
the Church in all ages, is abundantly enough to justify the 
practice, and satisfy us of the reasonableness of it. 

III. After the name is thus given, the Priest 
{if the godfathers, $c. certify him that the child ™£°Jlp£^ n 
may well endure it) is to dip it in the water dis- 
creetly and warily ; which was in all probability the way by 
which our Saviour, and for certain was the usual and ordinary 
way by which the primitive Christians did receive their bap- 
tism. 84 And it must be allowed that by dipping, the ends and 

79 Gen. xxi. 3, 4. Luke i. 59, 60, and chap. ii. 21. 80 In Dominic. Prim. Quadrag. 
•Serin. 2, Ordine 31, torn. v. col. 43, K. 8 i Vid. Canon. Arabic. Can. 30, torn. ii. col. 
209, E. 8 2 See bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 440. See also Camden's Remains. 
63 Ruth iv. 1 7. Luke i. 59. 84 Acts viii. 28. Rom. vi. 3, 4. Col. ii. 12. Const. Apost. 1. 3, 
c. 17. Barnabas, c. 11, p. 70, edit. Oxon. 1685. Tert. de Bapt. c. 4, et de Orat. c. 11. 



348 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap. vit. 



effects of baptism are more significantly express- 
immersion or J r ■ ,i ° ^1 i 

dipping most ed ; tor as in immersion there are three several 
s5nrnclnt and acts ' X1Z " ^ e P uttm g tne person under water, his 

abiding there for some time, and his rising up 
again ; so by these were represented Christ's death, burial, 
and resurrection ; and in conformity thereunto (as the Apos- 
tle plainly shews 85 ) our dying unto sin, the destruction of its 
But the ends of P ower > an ^ our resurrection to newness of life, 
baptism answer- Though indeed affusion is not wholly without its 
ed by affusion, signification, or entirely inexpressive of the end 
of baptism. For as the immersing or dipping the body of the 
baptized represents the burial of a dead person under ground ; 
so also the affusion or pouring mater upon the party answers 
to the covering or throwing earth upon the deceased. So 
that both ceremonies agree in this, that they figure a death 
and burial unto sin : and therefore though immersion be the 
most significant ceremony of the two, yet it is not so neces- 
sary but that affusion in some cases may supply the room of 
it. For since baptism is only an external rite, representing 
an internal and spiritual action, such an act is sufficient, as 
fully represents to us the institution of baptism ; the divine 
grace which is thereby conferred, being not measured by the 
quantity of water used in the administration of it. It is true, 
dipping and affusion are two different acts ; but yet the word 
baptize implies them both : it being used frequently in Scrip- 
ture to denote not only such washing as is performed by dip- 
ping, but also such as is performed by pouring or rubbing 
water upon the thing or person washed. 86 And therefore 
when the Jews baptized their children, in order to circum- 
cision, it seems to have been indifferent with them, whether 

it was done by immersion or affusion. 87 And 
f^usX^on 6 " that the primitive Christians understood it in this 
some occasions latitude, is plain, from their administering this 
ChrStian™ 1 ^ 6 h ty sacrament in the case of sickness, haste, 

want of water, or the like, by affusion, or pour- 
ing water upon the face. Thus the jailor and his family, who 
were baptized by St. Paul in haste, the same hour of the night 
that they were converted and believed, 8S are reasonably sup- 
posed to have been baptized by affusion : since it can hardly 
be thought that at such an exigency they had water sufficient 

85 Rom. vi. 3, 4. 85 See Mark vii. 4, and Luke xi. 38, in the Greek, and Heb. ix. 
10, also in the Greek, compared with Numbers viii. 7, and xix. IS, 19. 87 Mischna 
de Sabbato, c. 19, §. 3. 88 Acts xvi. 33, 



SECT. III.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



349 



at hand to be immersed in. The same may be said concern- 
ing Basilides, who, Eusebius tells ns, was baptized by some 
brethren in prison. 89 For the strict custody under which Chris- 
tian prisoners were kept, (their tyrannical jailors hardly allow- 
ing them necessaries for life, much less such conveniences as 
they desired for their religion,) makes it more than probable 
that this must have been done by affusion only of some small 
quantity of water. And that baptism in this way was no un- 
heard-of practice before this, may be gathered from Tertullian, 
who, speaking of a person of uncertain repentance offering him- 
self to be baptized, asks, Who would help him to one single 
sprinkling of water ?^ The Acts also of St. Laurence, who 
suffered martyrdom about the same time as St. Cyprian, tell 
us how one of the soldiers that were to be his executioners, 
being converted, brought a pitcher of water for St. Laurence 
to baptize him with. And lastly, St. Cyprian, being consulted 
by one Magnus, in reference to the validity of clinick baptism, 
(i. e. such as was administered to sick persons on their beds 
by aspersion or sprinkling,) not only allows, but pleads for it 
at large, both from the nature of the sacrament, and design of 
the institution. 91 It is true, such persons as were so baptized, 
were not ordinarily capable of being admitted to any office 
in the Church ; 93 but then the reason of this, as is intimated 
by the Council of Neocsesarea, was not that they thought this 
manner of baptism was less effectual than the other, but be- 
cause such a person's coming to the faith was not voluntary, 
but of necessity. And therefore it was provided by the same 
Council, that if the diligence and faith of a person so baptized 
did afterwards prove commendable, or if the scarcity of others, 
fit for the holy offices, did by any means require it, a clinick 
Christian might be admitted into holy orders. 93 However, 
except upon extraordinary occasions, baptism was seldom, or 
perhaps never, administered for the four first centuries, but 
by immersion or dipping. Nor is aspersion or sprinkling or- 
dinarily used, to this day, in any country that was never sub- 
ject to the pope. 94 And among those that submitted to his 
authority, England was the last place where it was received. 95 
Though it has never obtained so far as to be enjoined, dipping 

89 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 5. 99 Quis enim tibi, tarn infidae Pcenitentiae Viro, 
asperginem unam cujuslibet Aqua? commodabit ? Tertull. de Pcenitentia, c. 6. 91 Cypr. 
Ep. 69, ad Magnum, p. 185, &c. 92 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 43. 93 Concil. 
Neocaes. Can. 12. 9 * See this proved in Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part 
ii. chap. 9, §. 2. Dr. Wall, ibid. 



350 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap, vii,, 



having been always prescribed by the rubric. The Salisbury 
Missal, printed in 1530, (the last that was in force before the 
Reformation,) expressly requires and orders dipping. And 
m the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI., the 
Priest's general order is to dip it in the water, so it be dis- 
creetly and warily done ; the rubric only allowing, if the child 
be weak, that then it shall suffice to pour water upon it. Nor 
was there any alteration made in the following books, except 
the leaving out the order to dip it thrice, which was prescribed 
by the first book. 

How affusion or However, it being allowed to weak children 
sprinkling first (though strong enough to be brought to church) 

came in practice. tQ be baptized by a ff us i on . many f on d ladies at 

first, and then by degrees the common people, would persuade 
the Minister that their children were too tender for dipping. 
But what principally tended to confirm this practice was, that 
several of our English divines flying into Germany and Switzer- 
land, &c. during the bloody reign of queen Mary, and return- 
ing home when queen Elizabeth came to the crown, brought 
back with them a great love and zeal to the customs of those 
Protestant Churches beyond sea, where they had been shel- 
tered and received. And consequently having observed that 
in Geneva, and some other places, baptism was ordered to be 
performed by affusion, 96 they thought they could not do the 
Church of England a greater piece of service, than to intro- 
duce a practice dictated by so great an oracle as Calvin. So 
that in the latter times of queen Elizabeth, and during the 
reigns of king James and king Charles I., there were but very 
few children dipped in the font. And therefore when the 
questions and answers in relation to the sacraments were first 
inserted at the end of the Catechism, upon the accession of 
king James I. to the throne, the answer to the question, What 
is the outward visible sign or form in baptism ? was this that 
follows : Water, wherein the person baptized is dipped, or 
sprinkled with it in the name of the Father, &c. And after- 
wards, when the Directory was put out by the Parliament, 
affusion (to those who could submit to their ordinance) began 
to have a shew of establishment ; it being declared not only 
lawful, but sufficient and most expedient that children should 
be baptized, by pouring or sprinkling of water on the face. 

9 <s See Calvin's Institutes, 1. 4, c. 15, §. 19, and Tractat. Tbeolog. Catechismus, p. 57 

ed. Bezae, 1576. 



SECT. III.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



351 



And as it were for the further prevention of immersion or 
dipping, it was particularly provided that baptism should not 
be administered in the places where fonts, in the time of 
popery, were unfitly and superstitiously placed. And accord- 
ingly (which was equal to the rest of their reformation) they 
changed the font into a basin : which being brought to the 
Minister in his reading desk, and the child being held below 
him, he dipped in his fingers, and so took up water enough 
just to let a drop or two fall on the child's face. 97 These re- 
formers, it seems, could not recollect that fonts to baptize in 
had been long used before the times of popery, and that they 
had no where been discontinued from the beginning of Christi- 
anity, but in such places where the pope had gained authority. 
But our divines at the Restoration, understanding a little bet- 
ter the sense of Scripture and antiquity, again restored the 
order for immersion ; however, for prevention of any danger 
to the child, the Priest is advised to be first certified that it 
will well endure it. So that the difference between the old 
rubric, and what it is now, is only this : As it stood before, 
the Priest was to dip, unless there was an averment or allega- 
tion of weakness ; as it stands now, he is not to dip, unless 
there be an averment or certifying of strength, sufficient to 
endure it. 

This order, one would think, should be the most unexcep- 
tionable of any that could be given ; it keeping as close to 
the primitive rule for baptism, as the coldness of our region 
and the tenderness wherewith infants are now used, will some- 
times admit. Though Sir John Floyer, in a discourse on cold 
baths, hath shewn, from the nature of our bodies, from the 
rules of medicine, from modern experience, and from ancient 
history, that nothing would tend more to the preservation of 
a child's health, than dipping it in Baptism. However, the 
parents not caring to make the experiment, take so much the 
advantage of the reference that is made to their judgments 
concerning the strength of their children, as never to certify 
they may well endure dipping. It is true, indeed, the ques- 
tion is now seldom asked ; because the child is always brought 
in such a dress, as shews that there is no intention that it 
should be dipped. For whilst dipping in the font continued 
in fashion, they brought the child in such sort of clothing, as 
might be taken off and put on again without any hinderance or 

97 See Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part ii. chap. 9, p. 403. Oxf. edit. 



352 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[chap, vi r. 



trouble. But since the Church not only permits, but requires 
dipping, where it is certified the child may well endure it ; 
and consequently since the Minister is always ready to dip, 
whensoever it is duly required of him ; it is very hard that 
any should urge the not dipping or immersing, as a plea for 
separation. 

Trine immersion , §• 2 - But to proceed : by king Edward's first 
an ancient prac- book, the Minister is to dip the child in the wa- 
ter thrice ; first dipping the right side ; secondly, 
the left side ; the third time, dipping the face toward the 
font. This was the general practice of the primitive Church, 
viz. to dip the person thrice, i. e. once at the name of each 
Person in the Trinity, the more fully to express that sacred 
mystery. 98 Though some later writers say this was done to re- 
present the death, burial, and resurrection of our Saviour, to- 
gether with his three days' continuance in the grave." St. 
Austin joins both these reasons together, as a double mystery 
of this ancient rite, as he is cited by Gratian to this purpose. 100 
Several of the Fathers, that make mention of this custom, own, 
that there is no command for it in Scripture : but then they 
speak of it as brought into use by the Apostles ; l and therefore 
the fiftieth of the Canons that are called Apostolical, deposes 
any Bishop or Presbyter that administers Baptism without it. 

But afterwards, when the Arians made a wick- 
^tinueT 011 " e & advantage of this custom, by persuading the 
people that it was used to denote that the Persons 
in the Trinity were three distinct substances ; it first became 
a custom, 2 and then a law, 3 in the Spanish Church, only to use 
one single immersion ; because that would express the Unity 
of the Godhead, while the Trinity of Persons would be suf- 
ficiently denoted by the person's being baptized in the name 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. However, in other 
parts of the Church, trine immersion most commonly prevailed, 
as it does in the Greek Church to this very day. 4 Upon what 
account it was omitted in the second book of king Edward, I 
do not find : but there being no order in the room of it to con- 
fa Tertull. adv. Prax. c. 26, p. 516, A. et de Coron. Mil. c. 3. Basil, de Sp. Sanct. c. 
27. Hieron. adv. Lucif. c. 4. Hierar. Eccles. c. 2. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 7. Can. 
Ap. 50, Bas. 92, Leo. IX. 99 Greg. Nyss. de Bapt. Christi, torn. iii. p. 3, 72. Cyril. 
Catech. Mystag. 2, n. 4. Leo, Ep.4, ad Epis. Siculos, c. 3. 100 Aug. Horn. 3, apud 
Gratian. de Consecrat. Dist. 4. c. 78. 1 Tertull. de Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Cyril. 
Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, page 286, B. Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. 1. 6, c. 26, p. 673, D. Hieron. 
adv. Lucif. 3 Concil. Constant. Can. 7. Greg. Epist. ad Leandrum, Beg. 1. 1, c. 41. 
3 Concil. Tolet. 4, Can. 6, torn. v. col. 1706. * See Sir Paul Bycaut and Dr. Smith's 
Accounts of the Greek Church. 



SECT. 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



353 



fine the Minister to a single immersion, I presume it is left to 
his judgment and discretion to use which he pleases. 

IV. When the Priest dips or pours water upon 

the child, he is to say, (calling the child by its Th ^° f 
name,) N. / baptize thee, which was always the 
form of the Western Church. The Eastern Church useth a 
little variation, Let N. be baptized, kc., 5 or else, The servant 
of God, such a one is baptized, &c. ; 6 but the sense is much the 
same : however, in the next words, viz. in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, all orthodox 
Christians did ever agree ; because they are of Christ's own 
appointment, and for that reason unalterable. Wherefore, 
when the heretics presumed to vary from this form, they were 
censured by the Church, and those baptisms declared null, 
which were not administered in the name of the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. Some indeed took liberty to mingle a pa- 
raphrase with them, baptizing in the name of the Father who 
sent, of the Son that came, and of the Holy Ghost that wit- 
nessed ,- 7 but our reformers thought it more prudent to pre- 
serve our Lord's own words entire, without addition or di- 
minution. 

Now by baptizing in the name of three Persons, is not only 
meant that it is done by the commission and authority of 
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; but also that we are 
baptized into the faith of the holy Trinity ; and are received 
into that society of men, who are distinguished from all false 
professions in the world, by believing in three Persons and 
one God. 

V. By the first Common Prayer of king Ed- 
ward, after the child was thus baptized, the god- Zre]\x^Zom. 
fathers and godmothers were to lay their hands 

upon it, and the Minister was to put upon him his white ves- 
ture, commonly called the chrisom, and to say, 

Take this white vesture as a token of the innocency, which, 
by God's grace, in this holy Sacrament of Baptism, is given un- 
to thee, and for a sign whereby thou art admonished so long 
as thou livest, to give thyself to innocence of living, that after 
this transitory life thou may est be partaker of the life everlast- 
ing. Amen. 

This was a relic of an ancient custom I have , 

r lii • • a i • • W hy so called. 

lormerJy had occasion to mention : 8 the intention 

5 See the Euchologion. c See Sir Paul Rycaut and Dr. Smith's Accounts of the 
Greek Church. " Const. Ap. 1. 7, c. 22. « gee page 232, sect. 19. 

2 A 



354 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[CHAP. VII. 



and design of it is sufficiently expressed in the form above 
cited : I therefore need only observe further, that it receives 
its name from the chrism or ointment with which the child 
was anointed when the chrisom was put on. 
unction rescri "^ or ky tne same book of king Edward, as 

edby Seta?*" soon as the Priest had pronounced the foregoing 
v ard v^ 1 " 5 Ed " f° rm » ne was *° ano ^ ni the infant upon the head, 
saying, 

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
hath regenerated thee by icater and the Holy Ghost, and hath 
given unto thee remission of all thy sins ; he vouchsafe to anoint 
thee with the unction of his Holy Spirit, and bring thee to the 
inheritance of everlasting life. Amen. 

whether this Whether the compilers of king Edward's Li- 
unction belonged turgy designed this as a continuance of the unc- 
to Baptism or t [ 0Y1 t h at ancientlv made a part of the office of 

Confirmation. „ , ■ 1 • 1 1 in 

Baptism ; or of the unction which, though fre- 
quently used at the same time with Baptism, was yet rather a 
ceremony belonging to Confirmation, is not clearly to be dis- 
covered. According to the best of my judgment, I take it 
rather to be the latter ; for the unction that was an immedi- 
ate ceremony of Baptism, was always applied as soon as the 
party to be baptized was unclothed, and before his entrance 
into the water : 9 whereas the unction enjoined by king Ed- 
ward's Liturgy is ordered to be applied after the child is 
thoroughly baptized. For this reason, I suppose, it was con- 
tinued as a relic of the unction which the Priest used to per- 
form preparatory to Confirmation. And what makes my 
opinion the more probable is, that in the old office for Con- 
firmation, in that book, there is no order for the Bishop to 
anoint those whom he confirms ; which yet it is not to be ima- 
gined our reformers (who shewed such regard to all primi- 
tive customs) would by any means have omitted, if they had 
not known that the ceremony of unction had been performed 
before. But to help the reader to a clear notion in this matter, 
it will be necessary to give him some little light into the an- : 
cient practice in relation to both these unctions. 

He must know then, that the unction that was 
Sstingiifshe^in used before baptism, was only with pure oil, 10 \ 
church mith e which the party was anointed just before he 

entered the water, to signify that he was now 

9 Constit. Apost. lih. 1, cap. 23. Quaest. ad Orthodox. 137. Eccl. Hierarch. I, 2. 
10 See the authorities cited in the foregoing note. 



;ect. hi.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



355 



becoming a champion for Christ, and was entering upon a 
state of conflict and contention against the allurements of the 
world : in allusion to the custom of the old wrestlers or ath- 
leice, who were always anointed against their solemn games, in 
order to render them more supple and active, and that their 
antagonists might take the less advantage and hold of them. 11 
This was commonly called the tcnction of the mystical oil : 
whereas the unction wherewith the party was anointed after 
baptism, was called the unction or chrism, being performed 
with a mixed or compound unguent, and applied by the Bi- 
shop at the time of the imposition of his hands, partly to 
express the baptism with fire, of which oil, we know, is a 
proper material, partly to signify the invisible unction of the 
Holy Spirit, 12 and partly to denote that the person so anointed 
is admitted to the privileges of Christianity, which are de- 
scribed by the Apostle to be a chosen generation, a royal 
'priesthood, an holy nation, &c., 13 in the designation to which 
office anointing was generally used as a symbol. And this 
account Tertullian favours, 14 where, speaking of the unction 
that followed baptism, he tells us it was derived from the an- 
cient, i. e. the Jewish discipline, where the Priests were wont 
to be anointed to their office. 

But further, the anointing in Baptism might be performed 
by either a deacon or deaconess ; 15 whereas the chrism that 
belonged to confirmation could not at first be ordinarily ap- 
plied by any under the order of a Bishop. Afterwards indeed, 
when Christianity began to spread far and wide, so that Bi- 
shops could not be procured upon every extraordinary emer- 
gency, the Bishops found it necessary to give liberty to the 
Presbyters to anoint those whom they baptized, in cases of 
extremity : that so, if a Bishop could not be sent for in con- 
venient time, a sick member of the Church might not depart 
wholly deprived of all those spiritual assistances which Con- 
firmation was to supply. However, the privilege of making and 
consecrating the holy unguent, and the rite of laying on of 
hands, they still reserved to themselves ; and only took care 
to supply their Presbyters with a due quantity of chrism, that 
they might not be without it upon any necessity. 16 And this, 

11 Chrys. Horn. 8, in Ep. ad Coloss. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 1, c. 2. 12 2 Cor. i. 21, 
22. 1 John ii. 20, 27. 13 1 Peter ii. 9. W Tertul. de Bapt. c. 7. 15 Const. Apost. 
1.3,c.l5,16. is Concil. Arausican. Can. 1. Concil. Carthag. 4, Can. 36. ConciL 

Toletan. 1, Can. 20. But see this proved more at large in Dr. Hammond de Confirma- 
tione, cap. 2, sect. 3, 4, and Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 12, chap. 2, 1 vol. royal 
3vo, page 547, &c. 

2 A 2 



356 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[CHAT. VII. 



though at first indulged only upon occasion, came in a little 
time afterwards to be the general practice : insomuch that for 
the Presbyter to anoint in baptism became the ordinary me- 
thod ; and the Bishop, when he confirmed, had nothing to do 
but to impose his hands, except by chance now and then to 
apply the chrism to a person that by accident had missed of 
it in his baptism. 17 

And this I take to be the unction intended in the form we 
are now speaking of, as well for the reasons above mentioned, 
as because this, of the two, appears to have been the most 
ancient and universal, and so the most likely to be retained by 
our reformers. Bucer indeed prevailed for the leaving out 
the use both of this and the chrisom at the next review ; not 
because he did not think them of sufficient antiquity or stand- 
ing, or of good use and edification enough where they were 
duly observed ; but because he thought they carried more 
shew of regard and reverence to the mysteries of our religion 
than men really retained ; and that consequently they tended 
to cherish superstition in the minds of the people, rather than 
religion and true godliness. 13 

The reception of ? ut to retm ' n to our own office : the 

the child into the child, being now baptized, is become a member 
church. of tbe Qhristian Church, into which the Minister 

(as a steward of God's family) doth solemnly receive it ; and, 
for the clearer manifestation that it now belongs to Christ, 
solemnly signs it in the forehead with the sign of the cross. 
The antiquity ^ or ^ e better understanding of which primitive 
and meaning of ceremony, we may observe, that it was an an- 
cross gn ° f the c i ent r i te f° r masters and generals, to mark the 
foreheads or hands of their servants and soldiers 
with their names or marks, that it might be known to whom 
they did belong ; and to this custom the angel in the Hernia- 
tion is thought to allude ; 19 Hurt not the earth, &cc, till we 
ham sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads : thus 
again, 20 the retinue of the Lamb are said to ham his Father's 
name written in their foreheads. And thus, lastly, in the 
same chapter, as Christ's flock carried his mark on their 
foreheads, so did his great adversary the beast sign his serv- 
ants there also : 21 If any man shall receive the mark of the 
least in his forehead, or in his hand, &c. Now that the 

17 Concil. Araus. Can. 1. 18 Bucer. Script. Angl. p. 478. 19 Chap. vii. ver. 3. 
20 Chap. xiv. 1. 21 Verse 9. 



SECT. HI.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



357 



Christian Church might hold some analogy with those sacred 
applications, she conceived it a most significant ceremony in 
Baptism, (which is our first admission into the Christian pro- 
fession,) that all her children should be signed with the cross 
on their foreheads, signifying thereby their consignment up 
to Christ ; whence it is often called by the ancient Fathers, 
the Lord's signet, and Christ's seal. 

And it is worth observing, that this mark or sign seems 
to have been appropriated from the very beginning to some 
great mystery : the Israelites could overcome the Amalekites 
no longer than Moses by stretching out his arms continued in 
the form of a cross ; 22 which undoubtedly prefigured that our 
salvation was to be obtained through the means of the cross : 
as was also further signified by God ; s commanding a cross (for 
that Grotius supposes to be the mark understood) to be set 
upon those who should be saved from a common destruction. 2 " 

But to come nearer ; when our blessed Bedeemer had expi- 
ated the sins of the world upon the cross, the primitive disci- 
ples of his religion (who, as Minucius Felix affirms, did not 
worship the cross) did yet assume that figure as the badge of 
Christianity : and long before material crosses were in use, 
Tertullian tells us, that "upon every motion, at their going out 
or coming in, at dressing, at their going to bath, or to meals, 
or to bed, or whatever their employment or occasions called 
them to, they were wont [frontem crucis signaculo terere~] to 
mark, or (as the word signifies) to wear out their foreheads 
with the sign of the cross ; adding, that this was a practice 
which tradition had introduced, custom had confirmed, and 
which the present generation received upon the credit of that 
which went before them." 24 It is pretended indeed by our 
adversaries, that this is only an authority for the use of this 
sign upon ordinary occasions, and gives no countenance for 
using it in Baptism. Suppose we should grant this ; it would yet 
help to shew from some other passages in the same author, 
that the same sign was also used upon religious accounts. 
Thus, in his book concerning the resurrection of the flesh, 
shewing how instrumental the body is to the salvation of the 
soul, he has this expression : " The flesh is washed that the 
soul may be cleansed ; the flesh is anointed that the soul may 
be consecrated ; the flesh is signed that the soul may be for 

22 Exod. xvii. 11, 12, 13. 23 Ezek. ix. 4. « Tert. de Coron. Mil. c. 3, pair. 102, 
A. B. 



358 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vir. 

tified ; the flesh is overshadowed by the imposition of hands, 
that the soul may be enlightened by the Spirit of God ; the 
flesh is fed on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul may 
receive nourishment or fatness from God." 25 Thus again, in 
another place, shewing how the Devil mimicked the holy sa- 
craments in the heathen mysteries ; " He baptizeth some," 
saith he, "as his faithful believers ; he promises them forgive- 
ness of their sins after baptism, and so initiates them to Mithra, 
and there lie signs his soldiers in their foreheads ," &c. 26 Now 
here is plainly mention made of signing or marking the flesh , 
and signing too in the forehead, even in the celebration of re- 
ligious mysteries ; and we know no sign they so religiously es- 
teemed, but what-Tertullian had in the other place mentioned, 
viz. the sign of the cross. I will not indeed be certain, but 
that the signing in both these places may refer to the cross 
which was made upon the forehead, when they were anointed 
in confirmation : but still this proves that crossing on the fore- 
head was used upon religious as well as ordinary occasions ; 
that it was used particularly at Confirmation, and therefore it 
is highly paobable it was used also in Baptism : since they who 
used it upon every slight occasion, and made it a constant part 
of the solemnity in one office, would not omit or leave it out 
in another, where the use of it was full as proper and signifi- 
cant. We have gained so much therefore from Tertullian's 
authority, that the use of the cross, even in religious offices, 
was, in his time, a known rite of Christianity. This will gain 
an easier belief to a passage among the works of Origen, where 
there is express mention of some, who were signed with the 
cross at their baptism? 1 and better explain what is meant by 
St. Cyprian, when he tells us, that "those who obtain mercy 
of the Lord are signed on their foreheads" 2 * and that " the 
forehead of a Christian is sanctified with the sign of God." 29 
But further, in Lactantius, we find that Christians are describ- 
ed by those that have been marked upon the forehead with 
a c?'oss. zo Again, St. Basil tells us, that " an ecclesiastical con- 
stitution had prevailed from the Apostles' days, that those who 

25 Caro abluitur, ut anima emaculetur ; caro unguitur, ut anima consecretur; caro 
signatur, ut et anima rrmniatur; caro manus impositione adumbratur, ut et anima 
Spiritu illuminetur ; caro Corpore et Sanguine Christi vescitur, ut et anima de Deo 
saginetur. Tertull. de B.esurrect. Carnis, c. 8. 2S Tinguit et ipse quosdam, utique 
credentes et fideles suos ; expiationem delictorum de Lavacro repromittit, et sic adhuc 
initiat Mithrae. Signat illic in frontibus milites suos. Tertull. de Praescr. adv. Haerc- 
tic. c. 40 . 27 Horn. 2, in Ps. xxxviii. par. 1, p. 299. 23 De Unit. Eccles. p. Ills 
M De Laps. p. 122. 3" Lib. iv. c. 26. 



SECT. III.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



359 



believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be sign- 
ed with the sign of the cross.'' 31 St. Chrysostom again makes 
it the glory of Christians, that "they carry in their foreheads 
the sign of the cross'' 3 * And lastly St. Austin, speaking to 
one who was going to be baptized, tells him, 33 that he was 
" that day to be signed with the sign of the cross, with which 
all Christians were signed" (i. e. at their baptism.) 

I need not surely (after this long detail) instance in the writ- 
ings of any other of the Fathers, who frequently used being 
signed in the forehead for being baptized. I shall only add 
this remark ; that the first Christian emperor, Constantine the 
Great, had his directions from heaven to make the cross the 
great banner in his wars with this motto on it, 'Ev rovr^ vka, 
By this sign thou shalt overcome.^ And sure we cannot sup- 
pose that our blessed Lord would, by so immediate a revela- 
tion, countenance such a rite as this already used in the Church, 
if he had resented it before as superstitious and unwarrantable. 
And we may add, that we ought not to be too petulant against 
that which the Holy Spirit has sometimes signalized by very 
renowned miracles; as those who consult the ecclesiastical 
histories of the best authority cannot but be convinced. In a 
word, when any are received into the society of our religion, it 
is as lawful to declare it by a sign as by words. And surely 
there is no signature so universally known to be the mark of 
a Christian as that of the cross, which makes St. Paul put the 
cross for Christianity itself ; 35 the belief of a crucified Saviour 
being the proper article of the Christian faith, distinguishing 
the professors of it from all other kinds of religion in the world. 

§. 2. There were anciently indeed, in the pri- The Cross whv 
mitive Church, two several signings or markings made after Bap- 
with the cross, viz. one before Baptism, as was tism " 
ordered by the first Liturgy of king Edward, as I have already 
observed in page 338 ; the other afterwards, which was used 
at Confirmation, and which (as I shall shew hereafter) was also 
prescribed by the same book of king Edward. 

In a word, the Cross in Baptism, till of late years, has been 
so inoffensive to the most scrupulous minds, that even Bucer 
could find nothing indecent in it, if it was used and applied 
with a pure mind. He only disapproved of directing the form 

31 De Sp. Sanct. c. 27, torn. ii. p. 210, D. 32 Chrvs. in Psalm ex. 33 Aug. de 
Catech. Rudibus, c. 20. 2i Euseb. de Vita Constant. 1. i. c. 2S, 20, ?. -122. 35 1 Cor. 
L 17, IS. Gal. v. 11. Phil. iii. 18. 



360 



OF THE MINISTRATION 



[ciiai\ vrr. 



that was used at the imposing of it, to the child itself, who 
could not understand it. For which reason he wished it might 
be turned into a Prayer. 36 The reviewers of our Liturgy did 
not indeed exactly comply with him ; but however they have 
ordered the form to be spoken to the congregation, and fur- 
ther, to remove all manner of scruple, have deferred the sign- 
ing with it till after the child is baptized, that so none may 
charge us with making the ceremony essential to Baptism, 
which is now finished before the Cross is made, and which is 
esteemed, in case of extremity, not at all deficient, where it is 
celebrated without it. 

§. 3. The forehead is the seat of blushing and 
^the forehead 1 ! " sname I f° r which reason the child is to be signed 
with the Cross on that part of him, in token that 
hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ 
crucified, fyc. 

Sect. IV. — Of the concluding Exhortations and Prayers. 

I. The holy rite being thus finished, it is not 
lhe fioii.° rta " decent to turn our backs upon God immediately, 

but that we should complete the solemnity by 
thanksgiving and prayer : and therefore, that we may do both 
these with due understanding, the Minister teaches us, in a 
serious exhortation, what must be the subjects of our praises 
and petitions. 

II. And since (as we have already hinted) 37 the 
T prayer d s Lord's Prayer was prescribed by our Saviour to 

his disciples as a badge of their belonging to him ; 
it can never be more reasonable or proper to use it than now, 
when a new member and disciple is admitted into his Church. 
And therefore, whereas, in other offices, this prayer is gener- 
ally placed in the beginning, it is here reserved till after the 
child is baptized, and received solemnly into the Church; 
when we can more properly call God Our Father, with respect 
to the Infant, who is now by Baptism made a member of 
Christ, and more peculiarly adopted a child of God. And this 
is exactly conformable to the primitive Church : for the Cate- 
chumens were never allowed to use this prayer, till they had 
first made themselves sons by Regeneration in the waters of 
Baptism. 33 For which reason, this prayer is frequently, by 

:! "> Buceri Script. Anglican, p. 4 7 9. 37 Introduction, p. 4. ss Chrys. Horn. 2, in 
2 Cor. torn. iii. p. 553, lin. 21, 22. Aug. Horn. 29, de Verb. Apost. et Serm. 59, c. 1, torn, 
v. col. 343, J), et Serm. 65, c. 1, col. 119, C in Append, ad torn. v. 



SECT. IV.] 



OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



361 



the ancient writers, called The Prayer of the Regenerate, or 
Believers, as being, properly speaking, their privilege and 
birthright. 39 

III. After this follows a Prayer wherein we first ^ 
give God thanks for affording this child the be- e ect ' 
nefits of Baptism ; and then pray for his grace to assist it in 
the whole course of its life.* 

IV. And lastly, because nothing tends more 

directly to the securing of holiness and religion t^tL^odfathers 
than a conscientious performance of this vow of 
Baptism, here are added endeavours to our prayers for the 
fulfilling thereof. In the first ages, when those of discretion 
were baptized, the Applications were directed to the persons 
themselves, (as they now are in our office of Baptism for those 
of riper years :) but since children are now most commonly 
the subjects of Baptism, who are not capable of admoni- 
tion, here is a serious and earnest exhortation made to the 
sureties. 

§. 2. Which, if it be well considered, will 
shew how base it is for any to undertake this of h choos F in a g Ct St 
trust merely in compliment ; how absurd to put ]g sons for sure 
little children (whose bond is not good in hu- ies ' 
man courts) upon this weighty office ; and also how ridiculous 
for those who have taken this duty upon them, to think they 
can shake off this charge again, and assign it over to the 
parents. But yet this is frequently the custom of this licen- 
tious age, and the chief occasion of many people's falling into 
evil principles and wicked practices, which might easily be 
prevented, if the sureties would do their duty, and labour to 
fit their god-children for Confirmation, and bring them to it; 
which therefore the Minister is in the last place to advertise 
the sureties of:f for till the child by this means enters the 
bond in his own name, the sureties must answer for all mis- 
carriages through their neglect ; whereas as soon as the child 
is confirmed, the sureties are freed from that danger, and dis- 
charged from all but the duty of charity. 

* Note, that this prayer, with the foregoing exhortation and Lord's Prayer, were first 
added to the second book of king Edward ; his first hook ordering the application to the 
godfathers, &c, to be used as soon as the child was baptized. 

t In all the former books this advertisement concerning Confirmation was only a 
rubric directing the Minister to command that the children be brought to the Bishop, 
&c. But in the last review it was turned into a form to be spoken to the people. 

39 Ei'xw -irt'trTtov. Chrys. Horn. 10, in Coloss. torn. iv. p. 142, lin. 41. Oratio Fidelium, 
August. Enchirid. c. 71 



362 



OF THE MINISTRATION [app. t. to chap. vii. 



The office being thus ended, the first Common Prayer 
piously adds, And so let the congregation depart in tlie name 
of the Lord. 



APPENDIX I. TO CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE MINISTRATION OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN 
IN HOUSES.*' 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Office. 

In this and the following office, I am only to 
The tion? dUC " ta ^ e n °ti ce of such particulars, as are different 

from the Order for Public Baptism of Infants. 
Where either of these therefore agree with the former, I must 
refer my reader to the foregoing chapter, designing this and 
the following Appendix only for such things as I have had 
no opportunity of mentioning before. 

Rubric i Bap- §' ^ rst ruD1 ^ c requires, that the Curates 

tism not to be of every Parish shall often admonish the people, 
long deferred. that they de j> er not t]ie baptism of their children 

longer than the first or second Sunday next after their birth, 
or other holy-day falling betiueen, unless upon a great and 
reasonable cause to be approved by the Curate. 
Rubric 2. Not §• 2. And that also they shall warn them, that, 
to be adminis- ivithout like great cause and necessity, they pro- 
except in cases cure not their children to be baptized at home in 
of necessity. their houses. But xuhen need shall compel them 
so to do, then Baptism shall be administered on this fashion. 

The moderation of our Church in this respect, is exactly 
conformable to the ancient practice of the primitive Chris- 
tians ; who (though in ordinary cases they would never admit 
that Baptism should be administered without the presence of 
the congregation) yet had so great a care that none should 
die unbaptized, that in danger of death they allowed such 
persons, as had not gone through all their preparations, to be 
baptized at home : but laying an obligation upon them to an- 
swer more fully, if God restored them. 1 

* The title of this office in both books of king Edward and that of queen Elizabeth 
"was this : Of them that be baptized in private houses, in time of necessity. To which 
were added upon king James's accession the following words : by the Minister of the 
parish, or any other lawful Minister that can be procured. And so it continued till the 
Restoration, when it was altered into the title that stands above. 

1 Concil. Laodicen. Can. 47, torn. i. col. 1505, A. 



SBCT. II.] 



OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 



363 



Sect. II. — Of the proper Minister of Private Baptism. 
When necessity requires that Baptism be pri- 
vately administered, the Minister of the Parish, £wef by^r* 1 " 
or (in his absence) some other lawful Minister is church at the 
to be procured. This is an order which was not tion. Reforma " 
made till after the Conference at Hampton Court, 
upon the accession of king James I. to the throne. In both 
Common Prayer Books of king Edward, and in that of queen 
Elizabeth, the rubric was only this : First, let them that be 
present call upon God for his grace, and say the Lord's Prayei t 
if the timeicill suffer ; and then one of them shall name the 
child, and dip him in the water, or pour icater upon him, say- 
ing these words, N. / baptize thee, kc. Now this, it is plain 
from the writings and letters of our first reformers, was ori- 
ginally designed to commission lay-persons to baptize in cases 
of necessity : being founded upon an error which our reform- 
ers had imbibed in the Bomish Church, concerning the im- 
possibility of salvation without the sacrament of Baptism : 
which therefore being in their opinion so absolutely necessary, 
they chose should be administered by anybody that was- 
present, in cases of extremity, rather than any should die 
without it. 

But afterwards, when they came to have clearer 

Pjl , j 'ii But afterwards 

notions of the sacraments, and perceived how prohibited by 
absurd it was to confine the mercies of God to both houses of 

-. , . . , , Convocation. 

outward means ; and especially to consider that 
the salvation of the child might be as safe in God's mercy, with- 
out any baptism, as with one performed by persons not duly 
commissioned to administer it; when the governors of our 
Church, I say, came to be convinced of this, they thought it 
proper to explain the rubric above mentioned, in such a man- 
ner as should exclude any private person from administering 
of Baptism. Accordingly, when some articles were passed 
by both houses of Convocation, in the year 1575, the Arch- 
bishop and Bishops (who had power and authority in their 
several dioceses to resolve all doubts concerning the manner 
how to understand, do, and execute the things contained in 
the Book of Common Pray erf unanimously resolved, that 
even Private Baptism, in case of necessity, was only to be 
administered by a lawful Minister or Deacon ; and that all 

2 See the Preface concerning the Service of the Church. 



364 



OF THE MINISTRATION [afp. r. to CHAr. vn, 



other persons should be inhibited to intermeddle with the 
ministering of Baptism privately, as being no part of their vo- 
cation.* Bishop Gibson tells us, this article was not published 
in the printed copy ; but whether on the same account that 
the fifteenth article was left out, (which was, that Marriage 
might be solemnized at any time of the year, provided the 
banns were duly published, and no impediment objected,) viz. 
because disapproved by the crown, he cannot certainly tell : 4 
but it seems by the account that Mr. Collier gives us, as if it 
was published ; for after all the articles, he only remarks from 
the Journal of the Convocation, that the queen refused to 
assent to the last article, (i. e. the fifteenth above mentioned,) 
for which reason, saith he, it was not published with the rest, 5 
which seems plainly to imply that all the rest were published. 
However, whether it was published or not, the bare publish- 
ing of it in writing in every parish-church of every diocese in 
the province of Canterbury, by order of the Bishops, who had 
undoubted authority to explain the rubric, was sufficient to 
restrain the sense of the rubric in such a manner as should 
inhibit all persons not ordained from presuming to intermeddle 
with the administering of Baptism. But besides this, Mr. 
Collier tells us, that notwithstanding none but the Archbishop 
and Bishops are mentioned for their concurrence in these 
articles, yet in the Archbishop's mandate for the publication, 
they are said to be agreed, settled, and subscribed by both 
houses of Convocation. 6 So that from this time, notwith- 
standing the rubric might continue in the same words, it is 
certain it gave no licence or permission to lay-persons to bap- 
tize. On the contrary, the Bishops, in their visitations, cen- 
sured the practice, and declared that the rubric inferred no 
such latitude. 7 

* This article being very remarkable, ^1 shall here set it down in the -words of the 
record. 

" Twelfthly, And whereas some ambiguity and doubt has arisen amongst divers, by 
what persons Private Baptism is to be administered ; forasmuch as by the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer allowed by statute, the Bishop of the diocess is to expound and resolve all 
such doubts as shall arise concerning the manner how to understand, do, and execute 
the things contained in the said book; it is now by the said Archbishop and Bishops 
expounded and resolved, and every of them doth expound and resolve, that the said 
Private Baptism, in case of necessity, is only to be administered by a lawful Minister 
or Deacon, called to be present for that purpose, and by none other. And that every 
Bishop in his diocess shall take order, that this exposition of the said doubt shall be 
published in writing before the first day of May next coming, in every parish church 
of his diocess in this province ; and thereby all other persons shall be inhibited to in- 
termeddle with the ministry of Baptism privately, it being no part of their vocation. 3 

3 Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 447, and Mr. Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 552. 

* See his Codex as before. 5 Mr. Collier's Ecclesiastical History, as before. 6 Ibid, 
and page 551. ' See Bishop Barlow's Account of the Conference at Hampton Court. 



SECT. II.] 



OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 



365 



However, upon the accession of king James I. to the throne, 
the matter was again debated in the Hampton- Court Confer- 
ence; 3 the result of which was, that instead of these words, 
Let them that be present call upon God, &c, the rubric should 
be, Let the lawful Minister, and them that be present, &c. 
And instead of what follows, viz. Then one of them shall name 
the child, and dip him in the water, or pour water upon him, 
saying ; it was ordered that, the child being named by some 
one that is present, the said lawful Minister shall dip it in 
water, &c* And thus the rubric stood till the review at the 
Eestoration, when it only underwent some small variation ; 
the Minister of the parish being first named as the most proper 
person to be sent for, if not out of the way ; but in his ab- 
sence, any other lawful Minister is to be called iti that can 
be procured. The Church, only provides that none but a 
Minister, or one duly ordained, presume to intermeddle in 
it : well knowing that the persons, by whom baptism is to be 
administered, are plainly as positive a part of the institution, 
as any thing else relating to that ordinance ; and consequently 
that the power of administering it must belong to those only 
whom Christ hath authorized by the institution. It is true, 
there are some few of the primitive writers, who allow laymen 
to baptize in case of necessity: 9 but there are more and ear- 
lier of the Fathers, who disallow that practice: 10 and, upon 
mature consideration of the several passages, it will generally 
be found that these latter, for the most part, speak the judg- 
ment of the Church, whilst the former only deliver their pri- 
vate opinion. And therefore certainly it is a great presump- 
tion for an unordained person to invade the ministerial office 
without any warrant. What sufficient plea the Church of 
Rome can pretend, for suffering even midwives to perform 
this sacred rite, I am wholly ignorant. For as to the pretence 
of the child's danger, we may be sure that its salvation may 
be as safe in God's mercy without any baptism, as with such 
a one as he has neither commanded nor made any promises 

* The second rubric that I have given above in page 362, -was also then altered ; the 
old one being worded thus : " And also they shall warn them that, without great cause 
and necessity, they baptize not children at home in their houses : and when great need 
shall compel them so to do, that then they minister it on this fashion." 

8 Ibid, or Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 675. «> Tertull. de Bapt. c. 17, p. 231, A. 

Concil. Elib. Can. 38. Hieron. Dial. Adv. Lucifer, c. 4. 10 Ignat. ad Smyr. §. 8. 

Const. Ap. 1. 8, c. 46. Cyprian, et Firmilian. apud Basil. Ep. ad Amphiloch. c. 1. Vide 
et Cyprian. Ep. 76, et Concil. Carthag. inter Cypriani Opera. Hillarii, alias Ambros. 
Com. in Ephes. 4. Basil, ut supra. Chrysost. Horn. 61, torn. vii. p. 423. Vide et Bal« 
samom. in Can. 19. Concil. Sardicens. ap. Bevereg. Annot. in Can. Apost. p. 201. 



366 OF THE MINISTRATION [app. i. to chap. vti. 

to : so that where God gives no opportunity of having baptism 
administered by a person duly commissioned, it seems much 
better to leave it undone. 

If it be asked, whether baptism, when performed by an 
unordained person, be, in the sense of our Church, valid and 
effectual? I answer, that, according to the best judgment 
we can form from her public acts and offices, it is not. For 
she not only supposes, 11 that a child will die unbaptized, if the 
regular Minister does not come time enough to baptize it : 
but in the above-said determination of the Bishops and Con- 
vocation, she expressly declares, that even in cases of necessity 
baptism is only to be administered by a lawful Minister or 
Deacon, and directly inhibits all other persons from inter- 
meddling with it, though ever so privately, as heing no part 
of their vocation : a plain intimation that no baptism, but what 
is administered by persons duly ordained, is valid or effectual. 
For if baptism administered by persons not ordained be valid 
and sufficient to convey the benefits of it, why should such 
persons be prohibited to administer it in cases of real neces- 
sity, when a regular Minister cannot be procured ? It would 
surely be better for the child to have it from any hand, if any 
hand could give it, than that it should die without the ad- 
vantage of it. Our Church therefore, by prohibiting all from 
intermeddling in baptism but a lawful Minister, plainly hints, 
that when baptism is administered by any others, it conveys no 
benefit or advantage to the child, but only brings upon those 
who pretend to administer it, the guilt of usurping a sacred 
office : and consequently that persons so pretendedly baptized 
(if they live to be sensible of their state and condition) are to 
apply to their lawful Minister or Bishop for that holy sacra- 
ment, of which they only received a profanation before. 

Sect. III. — Of the Service to be performed at the Ministration 
of Private Baptism. 
Having said what I thought was necessary in relation to 
the Minister of Private Baptism, I have nothing to do now 
but to run through the office, and to shew how well it is 
adapted for the ministration of it. 

what prayers to First then, the Minister of the parish, (or, in 
be used at the ^ s absence, any other lawful Minister that can 

Baptism oi the , j \ «n ,i i 

child. be procured,) with them that are present, is to 

" Canon LXJX. 



■SECT. III.] 



OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 



367 



call upon God, and say the Lord's Prayer, and so many of 
the Collects appointed to be said before in the form of Public 
Baptism, as the time and present exigence will suffer. 

And here I humbly presume to give a hint to my brethren, 
that the Prayer appointed for the Consecration of the Water 
be never omitted. For besides the propriety of this prayer to 
beg a blessing upon the administration in general, I have al- 
ready shewed how necessary a part of the office of Baptism the 
primitive Christians esteemed the Consecration of the Water. 

§. 2. And here it is to be noted, that by a pro- 
vincial constitution of our own Church, made in vesseHnwMch 
the year 1236, (the twenty-sixth of Henry III.,) the child is bap- 
which is still in force, neither water nor vessel, apposed off° be 
that has been used in the administration of Pri- 
vate Baptism, is afterwards to be applied to common uses. 
But, out of reverence to the sacrament, the water is to be 
poured into the fire, or else to be carried to the Church, to 
be put to the water in the baptistery or font : and the vessel 
also is to be burnt, or else to be appropriated to the use of the 
Church, 12 perhaps for the washing of the church-linen, as Mr. 
Linwood supposes. 13 The latter of which orders, if I am not 
misinformed, the late good bishop Beveridge obliged his 
parishioners to comply with, whilst he was Minister of St. Pe- 
ter's in Cornhill. And as to the former, it is certainly very 
unseemly, that water once blessed in so solemn a manner, and 
used and applied to so sacred a purpose, should either be put 
to common use, or thrown away irreverently into the kennel 
or sink. And I wonder our Church has made no provision, 
how the water used in the font at church should be disposed of. 
In the Greek Church particular care is taken, that it never be 
thrown into the street like common water, but poured into a 
hollow place under the altar, (called QaXaaaLliov or Xojvelov,) 
where it is soaked into the earth, or finds a passage. 14 

§. 3. But to return: the Minister having used The child to be 
as many of the Collects appointed to be said in baptized by Af- 
the form of Public Baptism, as the time and pre- fusion only ' 
sent exigence will suffer; the child being then named by 
some one that is present, the Minister is to pour water upon 
it. All the old Common Prayers say, he shall either dip it in 
water, or pour water upon it: but Baptism in private being 

12 Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 435, and Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, 1236. 10. 
13 As cited by Mr. Johnson, ibid. 14 Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 114. 



368 



OF THE MINISTRATION \atv. i. to chap. tii. 



never allowed but when the child is weak, the rubric was pro- 
perly altered at the last review, and the order for dipping left 
out ; it being not to be supposed that the child in its sickness 
should be able to endure it. 

The thanks<nv- §• ^' After the child is baptized, it is further 
ing after Bap- ordered by our present Liturgy, that, all kneel- 
tlsm ' ing down, the Minister shall give thanks unto 

God, in part of the form that is appointed to be used after 
the administration of Public Baptism : and so the service at 
that time" is concluded. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Service to be performed ivhen the Child is 
brought to Church. 

_ . . , Though it is not to be doubted but that a child 

Such private _ . j* , . 

Baptism to be baptized in the manner above mentioned, is law- 
congregation h af- fodty an ^ sufficiently baptized, and ought not to 
tenvards by the be baptized again ; yet nevertheless, if the child, 
ivhich is after this sort baptized, do afterwards 
live, it is expedient (saith the rubric) that it be brought into 
the church, to the intent* that if the Minister of the same parish 
did himself baptize the child, the congregation may be certified 
of the true form of Baptism by him privately before used : in 
ivhich case he is to certify them, that according to the due and 
prescribed order of the Church, at such a time, and in such a 
place, before diverse ivitnesses he baptized this child. 
Or'eise to be ex- §• 2. But if the child were baptized by any 
qSred d in?o d be" otner lawful Minister, then the Minister of the 
fore the corigre- parish ivhere the child ivas born or christened, is 
gatlon - to examine and try ivhether the child be lawfully 

baptized or no : in which case, if those that bring any child to 
the Church do answer that the same child is already baptized; 
then the Minister is to examine them further, by whom and in 
ivhose presence it was baptized, and whether it was baptized 
with water, and in the name of the Trinity, which are always 
to be esteemed essential parts of the sacrament.f And if the 

* In king Edward's and queen Elizabeth's books, the former part of this and the 
latter part of the next rubric were joined together, and made but one between them : 
" to the intent that the Priest may examine and try whether the child," &c. All be- 
tween was first added in king James's book after the conference at Hampton-Court, 
except that the particular form of certification, in case that the Minister of the same 
parish baptized it himself, was inserted at the Restoration. 

t In the Common Prayers of king Edward and queen Elizabeth there were two 
questions asked, which are now omitted, viz. " Whether they called upon God for grace 
and succour in that necessity?" And " Whether they thought the child to be law- 



SECT. IV.] 



OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 



369 



Minuter shall find by the answer of such as bring the child, 
that all things were done as they ought to be. he is not to 
christen the child again, but to receive him as one of the flock 
of true Christian people. 

§. 3. Which (after he has certified the people 
that all was well done, and declared the benefits A de Jg* the 
which the child has received by virtue of its 
Baptism) he is directed to do in much the same form as is 
appointed for Public Baptism. He reads the Gospel there 
appointed, and the exhortation that follows it.* After which 
he repeats the Lord's Prayer, and the Collect that in the office 
for Public Baptism follows the exhortation. Then demanding 
tJie name of the child, he proceeds to examine the godfathers 
and godmothers, whether in the name of the child, they re- 
nounce the devil and all his icorks, &c, tvhether they believe 
all the articles of the Christian faith, and whether they will 
obediently keep God's will and commandments, &c. For though 
the child was baptized without godfathers at first, (when, being 
more likely to die than to live, there seemed no occasion for 
any to undertake for its future behaviour ;) yet if it lives and 
is brought to church, it is fit there should be some to give 
security that it shall be well educated and instructed. As 
soon as this is done, therefore, the child is received into the 
congregation of Christ's flock, and is signed with the sign 
of the cross. After which the service concludes with the 
Thanksgiving and Exhortation that close the office for Public 
Baptism. 

fully and perfectly baptized?" Which latter question was also continued quite down 
to the Restoration. The words, "And because some things essential to the sacrament 
may happen to be omitted through fear or haste in such times of extremity," &c., were 
first added to king James's book, at which time the alteration was made to restrain 
Lay-Baptism, even in cases of extremity : and therefore these words cannot be urged 
to prove that the Church does not hold that the commission of the administrator, as 
well as the matter and form, is of the essence of Baptism. 

* The Exhortation in this Office, as well as in the former, in all the old books, ends 
with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer and Creed, after which also in the same books 
immediately follow the questions to the godfathers and godmothers; and then the 
I prayer, " Almighty and everlasting God," &c. (which in our present book stands before 
; those questions.) This prayer being ended, the Priest was also formerly to use the 
Exhortation, " Forasmuch as this child," &c, and so forth as in Public Baptism ; which 
I last words I believe only referred to the charge that was then to be given to the god- 
i fathers, &c. to see the child confirmed, as is directed at the end of the Public Office of 
Baptism ; though upon leaving out those words in our present form of Private Baptism, 
the Minister is not directed to give any such charge. The form of receiving the child 
into the congregation, and signing it with the Cross, with the short exhortation and 
prayer that follow it in our present books, do not seem to have been then used. But 
the first book of king Edward, after the form of stipulation, orders the chrisom to 
be put upon tho child, and the form to be used which I have already given upon the 
former Office. 15 

15 Page 353. 



370 



OF THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM [app. ii. to chap. vrr. 



The method of ^' ^^ er a ^ there is a provision made, that 

proceeding if this if they which bring the infant to church, do make 
?oubtfui be suc ^ 1 unceria ^ n answers to the P?*iesfs questions, 
as that it cannot appear that the child was bap- 
tized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost, (which are essential parts of baptism ;) 
then the Priest is to baptize it in the form before appointed for 
Public Baptism of Infants ; saving that, at the dipping of the 
child in the font, he is to use this form of ivords, If thou art 
not already baptized, N. I baptize thee, &c. 



APPENDIX II. TO CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM TO SUCH AS ARE OF RIPER 
YEARS, AND ABLE TO ANSWER FOR THEMSELVES. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

This office not We na ^ 110 °^ ce hi our Liturgy for the bap- 
added till the last tism of persons of riper years till the last review. 

For though in the infancy of Christianity adult 
persons were generally the subjects of baptism ; yet after the 
several nations that have been converted were become Chris- 
tian, baptism was always administered to children. So that 
when the Liturgy of the Church of England was first com- 
piled, an office for adult persons was not so necessary. But 
by the growth of Anabaptism and Quakerism, during the grand 
rebellion, the want of such an office was plainly perceived. 
For which reason the Commissioners appointed to review the 
Common Prayer drew up this which I am now going to make 
some remarks upon, which is very useful for the baptizing of 
natives in our plantations, when they shall be converted to 
the faith, and of such unhappy children of those licentious 
sectaries I just now named, as shall come to be sensible of 
the errors of their parents. 

Sect. I. — Of some Particulars in this Form which differ 
from the others. 
When ami such persons as are of riper years 

A wcGK s notice 

of their Baptism are to be baptized, timely notice is to be given to 
Bishof^d^vhy! the Bishop, or ivhom he shall appoint for that 
purpose, a iceek before at the least, by the parents, 
or some other discreet persons ; that so due care may be taken 



85CT. I.] 



TO SUCH AS ARE OF RIPER YEARS. 



S71 



for their examination, whether they be sufficiently instructed in 
the principles of the Christian religion ; and that they may be 
exhorted to prepare themselves with prayers and fasting for the 
receiving of this holy sacrament, which was always strictly en- 
joined to those that were baptized in the primitive Church. 1 

§. 2. And if they shall be found fit, the Min- TheformofBap 
ister is to baptize them in the same manner and tism appointed 
order as is appointed before the Baptism of In- for theoccasion - 
fants ; except that the Gospel is concerning our Saviour's 
discourse with Nicodemus touching the necessity of baptism, 
which is followed by an exhortation suitable and proper. 
Again, the persons to be baptized being able to make the 
profession that is requisite, in their own persons, the Minister 
is ordered to put the questions to them. There are god- 
fathers and godmothers indeed appointed to be present, but 
they are only appointed as witnesses of the engagement, and 
undertake no more than to remind them hereafter of the vow 
and profession which they made in their presence, and to call 
upon them to be diligent in instructing themselves in God's 
word, &c, the chief part of the charge being delivered at 
last by the Priest to the persons that are baptized. 

§. 3. It is convenient that every person thus 
baptized should be confirmed by the Bishop, so tiledTo be con- 
soon after his baptism as conveniently maybe, firmed as soon as 
that so he may be admitted to the holy Communion. 

§• 4. If any persons not baptized in their in- Persons betwe „ n 
fancy shall be brought to be baptized before they their infancy and 
come to years of discretion to ansicer for them- £J,Sa?Sai 
selves, it may suffice to use the Office for Public form to be bap- 
Baptism of Infants, or {in case of extreme 
danger) the office for Private Baptism, only changing the 
word Infant for Child or Person, as occasion requires. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
OF THE CATECHISM. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

Since children, in their baptism, engage to re- 2SmfaS£d 
nounce the devil and all his works, to believe in next. 

i Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 79, p. 116. Tertull. de Rapt. c. 20. p. 232, B. 
2 B 2 



372 



OF THE CATECHISM. 



[CHAP. VIII. 



God, and serve him ; it is fit that they be taught, so soon 
as they are able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and 
profession they have made. Accordingly after the offices 
appointed for baptism, follows A Catechism, that is to say, 
An Instruction, to be learned of every person, before he 
be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop. 

And this (i. e. the catechising or instructing of 

Catechism of di- 1 -i j j ,1 <v • ■ 1 n v • \ 

vine institution, children and others m the principles or religion) 
a ractke Versal * s f° un ded upon tne institution of God himself, 1 
and is agreeable to the best examples in Scrip- 
ture. 2 As to the Jews, Josephus tells us, that they were above 
all things careful that their children might be instructed in 
the law : 3 to which end they had in every village a person 
called the instructor of babes, (to which St. Paul seems to 
allude, 4 ) whose business it was (as we may gather from Bux- 
torf 5 ) to teach children the law till they were ten years of age, 
and from thence till they were fifteen, to instruct them in the 
Talmud. Grotius tells us, 6 that at thirteen they were brought 
to the house of God in order to be publicly examined ; and, 
being approved, were then declared to be children of the pre- 
cept, i. e. they were obliged to keep the law, and were from 
thenceforth answerable for their own sins. And whereas our 
Saviour submitted himself to this examination when he was 
but twelve years old, (for that Grotius supposes was the end 
of his staying behind at Jerusalem, and offering himself to the 
doctors in the temple ;) it was by reason of his extraordinary 
qualifications and genius, which (to speak in the Jews' own 
language) ran before tJie command. 

From the Jews this custom was delivered down to the 
Christians, who had in every church a peculiar officer, called 
a catechist, 1 whose office it was to instruct the catechumens in 
the fundamentals of religion, in some places for two whole 
years together, 8 besides the more solemn catechising of them 
during the forty days of Lent, preparatory to their baptism at 
Easter. 9 

§. 2. There was indeed some difference be- 
cmWreS^r^con- tween the persons who were catechised then, and 
verts, as proper those whom we instruct now. For then the 

1 Deut. vi. 7. xxxi. 11, 12. Prov. xxii. 6. Johnxxi. 15, 16. Ephes. vi. 4. 2 Gen. 
xviii. 19. Luke i. 4. Acts xviii. 25. Rom. ii. 18. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 3 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 
4. c. S. 4 Rom. ii. 20. 5 Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, c. 7. 6 In Luc. ii. ver. 42. 
? Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 10, p. 275. A. 1. 6, c. 3, 12, 20. » Concil. Elib. Can. 42, torn, 
i. col. 975, B. 9 Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 1. 



SECT. T.J 



OF THE CATECHISM. 



372 



catechumens were generally such as were come after Baptism as 
to years of discretion ; but, having been born of before - 
heathen parents, were not yet baptized. So that they catechis- 
ed them before their baptism, as we also do those who are not 
baptized till they come to riper years. But as to the children 
of believing parents, it is certain that, as they were baptized 
in infancy, they could not then, any more than now, be ad- 
mitted Catechumens till after baptism. Nor is there any ne- 
cessity of doing it before, if so be we take care that due 
instruction be given them, so soon as they are capable of re- 
ceiving it. For our Saviour himself in that commission to his 
apostles, Go ye, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, 
&c. — teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have 
commanded you, 10 seems to intimate that converts may first 
be entered into his Church by baptism, and afterwards instruct- 
ed in the fundamentals of their religion. And indeed we read, 
that when St. Basil was baptized, the Bishop kept him in his 
house some time afterwards, that he might instruct him in the 
things pertaining to eternal life. 11 And a learned writer af- 
firms, that all baptized persons in the primitive times (although 
they had been catechised before) were yet wont to stay seve- 
ral days after their baptism, to be more fully catechised in all 
things necessary to salvation. 12 And therefore there is much 
more reason for us to catechise children after baptism, who 
are naturally incapable of being instructed beforehand. 

Sect. I. — Of the Form and Contents of the Catechism. 
As to the form of our Catechism, it is drawn m - 

i n ,• The Catechism 

up after the primitive manner byway of question drawn up by way 
and answer : so Philip catechised the Eunuch, 13 °J n ^f ion and 
and so the persons to be baptized were cate- 
chised in the first ages, as I have already shewn in discours- 
ing of the antiquity of the baptismal vow. 14 And indeed the 
very word Catechism implies as much ; the ori- The word Cate ^ 
ginal K-arrj^t'w, from whence it is derived, being chism, v\\ax it 
h compound of iix^-> which signifies an echo, or si s nifies - 
repeated sound. So that a Catechism is no more than an in- 
struction first taught and instilled into a person, and then re- 
peated upon the catechist's examination. 

§. 2. As to the contents of our Catechism, it is not a large 

10 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 11 S. Amphilochius in Vit. S. Basil. 12 Vicecomes de 
antiquis Ritibus Baptismi, lib. 5, cap. 53. is Acts viii. 37. 14 Page 342, 343. 



374 



OF THE CATECHISM. 



[chap. vnr. 



system or body of divinity, to puzzle the heads of 

The contents of yQun ^ beginners . but only a short and full ex _ 

plication of the baptismal vow. The primitive 
Catechism indeed (i. e. all that the catechumens were to learn 
by heart before their Baptism and Confirmation) consisted of 
no more than the Renunciation, or the repetition of the Bap- 
tismal Vow, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer and these 
together with the Ten Commandments, at the Reformation, 
were the whole of ours. But it being afterwards thought de- 
fective as to the doctrine of the Sacraments, (which in the 
primitive times were more largely explained to baptized per- 
sons, 15 ) king James I. appointed the Bishops to add a short 
and plain explanation of them, which was done accordingly in 
that excellent form we see ;* being penned by bishop Overal, 
then dean of St. Paul's, and allowed by the Bishops. 16 So that 
now (in the opinion of the best judges) it excels all Catechisms 
that ever were in the world ; being so short that the youngest 
children may learn it by heart ; and yet so full, that it contains 
all things necessary to be known in order to salvation. 

In this also its excellency is very discernible, viz. that as all 
persons are baptized not into any particular Church, but into 
the Catholic Church of Christ ; so here they are not taught 
the opinion of this or any other particular Church or people, 
but what the whole body of Christians all the world over agree 
in. If it may any where seem to be otherwise, it is in the 
doctrine of the Sacraments : but even this is here worded with 
so much caution and temper, as not to contradict any other 
particular Church ; but so as that all sorts of Christians, when 
they have duly considered it, may subscribe to every thing 
that is here taught or delivered. 

Sect. II. — Of the Rubrics after the Catechism. 

Rubric i. Cate- '^ HE ^ mes now appointed for catechising of 
chism how often children, are Sundays and Holy-days. Though 
to be performed, bishop Cosin observes, this is no injunction for 

* In all the books from king James's time (when these questions and answers con- 
cerning the sacrament were first inserted) to the last review, the answer to the question 
concerning the " outward visible sign or form in baptism," was something different from 
what it is now, which, with the reason of it, I have already given in page 350. The 
answer also to the question , " Why infants are baptized," &c, was then a little difficult- 
ly, and more obscurely expressed, viz. "Yes, they do perform them by their sureties, 
who promise and vow them both in their names, which, when they come to age, them- 
selves are bound to perform." 

* 5 Vide S. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. w Conference at Hampton Court, p. 43, and 

Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 58. 



■SECT. II.] 



OF THE CATECHISM. 



375 



doing it every Sunday and holy-day, but only as often as 
need requires, according to the largeness or number of chil- 
dren in the parish. 17 And it is true, that by the first book of 
king Edward VI. it was not required to be done above once 
in six weeks. But Bucer, observing that this was too seldom, 
and that in several churches in Germany there was catechis- 
ing three times a week, urged, in his censure upon this rubric, 
that the Minister should be required to catechise on every 
holy-day}* Upon this exception indeed the rubric was alter- 
ed, but expressed notwithstanding in indefinite terms. So 
that bishop Cosin was of the opinion, 19 that no obligation 
could be urged from hence, that the Minister should perform 
it on all Sundays and holy-days. And indeed by the Injunc- 
tions of queen Elizabeth, it was only required upon every 
Holy-day and every second Sunday (i. e. I suppose every 
Sunday) in the year ; 20 though it is plainly the design of the 
present rubric, that it should be done as often as occasion re- 
quires, i. e. so long as there are any in the parish who are ca- 
pable of instruction, and yet have not learned their Catechism. 
And therefore, in many large parishes, where the inhabitants 
are numerous, the Minister thinks himself obliged to catechise 
every Sunday ; whilst in parishes less populous, a few Sun- 
days in the year are sufficient to the purpose ; and therefore 
in such places the duty of Catechism is reserved till Lent, in 
imitation of an old custom in the primitive Church, which, as 
I have already observed, had their more solemn Catechisms 
during that season. But now how to reconcile the fifty-ninth 
canon to this exposition of the rubric, I own I am at a loss : 
for that requires every Parson, Vicar, or Curate, upon every 
Sunday and Holy-day, to teach and instruct the youth and 
ignorant persons of his parish, in the Catechism set forth in 
the Book of Common Prayer ; and this too upon pain of a 
sharp reproof upon the first complaint, of suspension upon 
the second, and of excommunication till he be reformed upon 
the third. 

§. 2. The part of the service where this is to AVhy t0 be per . 
come in, is after the second Lesson at Evening formed after the 
Prayer: though in all the Common Prayer second Lesson - 
Books till the last review, it was ordered to be done half an 
hour before Even-Song, i. e. (as the fifty-ninth canon ex- 

17 See Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 58. 1S Script. Anglican, p. 485. 19 In Dr. 
Nichols, ibid. 2 <> Injunction 44, in bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 79. 



376 



OF THE CATECHISM. 



[chap. Till. 



plains it,) the Minister should for half an hour, or more, before 
Evening Prayer, examine and instruct the youth and ignorant 
persons of his parish in the Church Catechism. I suppose 
the reason of the alteration was, that Catechism being per- 
formed in the midst of divine service, the elder persons, as 
well as the younger, might receive benefit by the Minister's 
expositions, and that the presence of parents and masters 
might be an encouragement to the children and servants to a 
diligent performance of their duty herein. 
Rubric 2. The §• 3- The persons appointed to be instructed 
persons to be in this Catechism, are so many of the parish 
catechised, who. smt untQ as t j te ^fi n i ster s } ia u think con- 
venient : which the next rubric supposes to be all children, 
servants, and apprentices, which have not learned it. In 
king Edward's first Common Prayer Book, those only were to 
be sent, who were not yet confirmed. But because many 
were then confirmed young, at least before they could under- 
stand their Catechism, though they might repeat the words of 
it, Bucer desired that they might still be catechised, till the 
Curate should think them sufficiently instructed; 21 upon 
which motion the words were somewhat altered in the next 
review. 

What care to be §• 4 * ^he care of sending their children and 
taken by parents servants is by the same rubric laid upon their 
and masters, &c jp^^ Motliers, Mistresses, and Dames, who 
are to cause them to come to Church at the time appointed, 
and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the Curate, until 
such time as they have learned all that is here appointed for 
them to learn. The same is required by the fifty-ninth canon 
of our Church, which further orders, that if any of these neg- 
lect their duties, as the one sort in not causing them to come, 
and the other in refusing to learn as aforesaid ; they are to 
be suspended by the Ordinary, i. e. from the Communion, I 
suppose, {if they be not children^) and if they so persist by 
the space of a month, they are to be excommunicated. And 
by the canons of 1571, every Minister was yearly, within 
twenty days after Easter, to present to the Bishop, &c. the 
names of all those in his parish, which had not sent their chil- 
dren or servants at the times appointed. And to enforce this, 
it was one of the articles which was exhibited, in order to be 
admitted by authority, that he, whose child at ten years old or 

21 Buceri Script. Anglican, p. 4S5. 



introduction.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



377 



upwards, or his servant at fourteen or upwards, could not say 
the Catechism, should pay ten shillings to the poor's box. 22 

The two next rubrics, relating more immediately to the 
Order for Confirmation, will come more properly to be treated 
of in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER IX. 
OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

I have already observed, 1 that it was a custom of the Jews to 
bring their children, at the age of thirteen years, to be pub- 
licly examined before the congregation, and to make a solemn 
promise that they would from thenceforward engage them- 
selves faithfully to observe the law of Moses, and so be ac- 
countable for their own sins : after which engagement followed 
the prayers of the congregation, that God would bless and en- 
able them to make good their promise. And from this cus- 
tom among the Jews, the rite of Confirmation is thought by 
some to have been deduced. And indeed that there is some 
correspondence between them, is obvious and plain. But 
still I must assert, that the use of Confirmation rn 

i «i - • >,i i • i lhe rite of Con- 

111 the Christian Church is owing to a much firmation of di- 

more divine original ; even to the example and vme mstltutlon - 
institution of our blessed Lord, who is the head and pattern, in 
all things, to the Church. For we read, that after the baptism 
of Jesus in the river of Jordan, when he was come up out of 
the water, and was praying on the shore, the Holy Ghost 
descended upon him : 2 which represented and prefigured (as 
some ancient Fathers tell us 3 ) that we also, after our baptism, 
must receive the ministration of the Holy Spirit. And in- 
deed, all that came to St. John to be baptized were referred 
to a future baptism of the Holy Ghost for their completion 
and perfection. / indeed, saith he, baptize you with water 
unto repentance : but he that cometh after me shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire?* And this was so 

22 Strype's History of the Reformation, Appendix 2, page 1, and bishop Gibson's 
Codex, page 453. 

1 In page 372. 2 Matt. iii. 16. Luke iii. 21. 3 Optat. contr. Donatist. Cyril. Ca- 
tech. 3. Vid. et Hilar. Chrysost. et Theophylact. in Matt. iii. 16. * Matt. iii. 11. 



378 



Or THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[chap. IV 



necessary to confirm and establish them in the Gospel dis- 
pensation, that our Saviour, just before his ascension, leaves a 
charge to his Apostles, who had before received the baptism 
of water, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, till 
they had received the baptism of the Spirit, and were endued 
with power from on high. 5 For John truly, saith he, bap- 
tized with water : but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence. 5 Accordingly, on the day of 
Pentecost, they were all visibly confirmed and filed with the 
Holy Ghost, who descended from heaven, and sat upon each 
of them under the appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire."' 
§. 2. Hence then we see, that the institution 
0f pSice Cal °f tn * s r * te was an d divine. As to the prac- 
tice of it, we may observe, that the Apostles, 
having received the Spirit, as is above mentioned, immediately 
knew to what use it was given them, viz. not to be confined 
to their own persons or college, but to be imparted by them 
to the whole Church of God. For the Spirit itself was to 
teach them all things, and to bring all things to their remem- 
brance? And therefore to be sure it taught and reminded 
them, that the gifts and graces, which they themselves re- 
ceived by it, were equally necessary to all Christians whatever. 
Accordingly, as soon as they heard that the Samaritans had 
been converted and baptized by Philip, they sent two of their 
number, Peter and John, to lay their hands on them, that 
they might receive the Holy Ghost .• 9 a plain argument, that 
neither baptism alone, nor the person that administered it, was 
able to convey the Holy Ghost : since if either the Holy 
Ghost were a consequence of baptism, or if Philip had power 
to communicate him by any other ministration, the Apostles 
would not have come from Jerusalem on purpose to have 
confirmed them. The same may be argued from a like oc- 
currence to the disciples at Ephesus : upon whom, after they 
had baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Apostle St. 
Paul laid his hands, and then the Holy Ghost came on the?n.- 10 
which shews, that the receiving of the Holy Ghost was not 
the consequence of their being baptized, but of the Apostle's 
laying on his hands ; and that laying on of hands was ne- 
cessary to perfect and complete the Ephesians, even after they 
had received the sacrament of Baptism. 



s Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i. 4. 6 Acts i. 5. ? Acts ii. 1 — 5. 8 Zq\ji xiv. 16. 
» Acts viii. 14, 8re. w Acts xix. 5, 6. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



379 



§.3. It is true, the ministration of this rite at 
first was frequently attended with miraculous edat firftwith d " 
powers. But so also we read was prayer and miraculous pow- 
preaching, which yet no one ever thought to be gut wfTSe** 
only temporary ordinances. To fancy therefore signed only for a 
that the invocation of the Holy Spirit, with im- D a™ce. rary ° rdl " 
position of hands, was to cease when the extra- 
ordinary effects of it failed, is too groundless a supposition to 
be put in the balance against the weight of so sacred and posi- 
tive an institution. In the infancy of the Church these visi- 
ble effects upon those that believed were necessary to bring 
over others to the faith : but when whole nations turned Chris- 
tian, this occasion ceased ; and therefore the Holy Ghost does 
not now continue to empower us to work them. But still the 
ordinary gifts and graces, which are useful and necessary to 
complete a Christian, are nevertheless the fruits and effects of 
this holy rite. And these are by much the more valuable 
benefits. To cast out the devil of lust, or to throw down the 
pride of Lucifer ; to beat down Satan under our feet, or to 
triumph over our spiritual enemies ; to cure a diseased soul, 
or to keep unharmed from the assaults of a temptation, or the 
infection of an ill example ; is much more advantageous and 
beneficial to us, than the power of working the greatest mi- 
racles. 

Though neither are we to believe that these Administeredby 
extraordinary effects did always attend even the Apostles, not 
those upon whom the Apostles laid their hands : |ak™of itsextra- 
All did not spealz with tongues, nor aU work ordinary, as of its 
miracles though, as far as we can learn, all ordmary effects - 
were confirmed. Nor did the Apostles minister this rite so' 
much for the sake of imparting miraculous powers, as to the 
end that their converts might be endued with such aid from 
the Holy Ghost, as might enable them to persevere in their 
Christian profession. This may be gathered from those se- 
veral texts, in which St. Paul intimates that all Christians in 
general have been thus confirmed ; but in which he implies at 
the same time, that graces and not miracles were the end of 
their Confirmation. Thus he supposes both the Corinthians 
and Ephesians to have been all partakers of this holy rite, and 
plainly intimates, that the happy effects of it were being stablish- 
ed in Christ, being anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit 
of promise, and having arc earnest of their inheritance, and an 



380 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[CHAP. IX. 



earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. 11 And that all these 
expressions refer to Confirmation is evident, as well from 
comparing them together, as from the concurring testimonies 
of several ancient Fathers. 13 

Desi°ned for a ^ ut Wliat ^ as Deen esteemed the clearest evi- 
staSg and* dence, that the rite of Confirmation was a per- 
perpetuai ordi- petual institution of equal use and service in all 
ages of the Church, is that passage of St. Paul in 
his Epistle to the Hebrews, 13 where he mentions the doctrine 
of laying on of hands, as well as the doctrine of baptis?n. 
among the fundamentals of religion. Which words have 
been constantly interpreted by writers of all ages, of that im- 
position or laying on of hands, which was used by the Apos- 
tles in confirming the baptized. Insomuch that this single 
text of St. Paul is, even in Calvin's opinion, 14 abundantly suf- 
ficient to prove Confirmation to be of apostolical institution. 
Though I think what has been said proves it of a higher de- 
rivation. And, indeed, from these very words of the Apostle, 
it not only appears to be a lasting ministry, (because no part 
of the Christian doctrine can be changed or abolished,) but 
hence also we may infer it to be of divine institution : since, 
if it were not, St. Paul would seem guilty of teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men which not being to be sup- 
posed, it must follow that this doctrine of imposition of hands 
is holy and divine. 

Practised by the §: 4 ' Tlie Scri P ture toen > by these evidences 
church in ail of its usefulness to all Christians in general, 
ages " proves that this rite had a further view than the 

miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. And the history of the 
Church, by testifying the continuance of it in all times and 
places, after these gifts of the Spirit ceased, shews that it has 
ever been received and used as a perpetual and standing or- 
dinance of Christianity. I think I need not produce my 
authorities for this ; because, I believe, no one doubts of the 
universality of the practice. However, because some may 
have a mind to be convinced by their own searches, I have, 
for their readier satisfaction, pointed out some places in the 
margin, 15 which will soon convince those that have leisure and 

11 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. Eph. i. 13. and chap. iv. 30. 12 See the old commentators upon 
the several texts. 13 Heb. vi. 3. 14 Calvin in locum. 1 5 Theoph. Antioch. p. 
33. Tertull. de Bapt. c. 8, p. 226, D. de Resurrect. Cam. c. S, p. 330, C. Clem. Alex. 
Guis Dives salvabitur ? versus finem, p. 113, edit. Oxon. 16S3. Orig. Horn. 7, in Ezek. 
Dionys. Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 2, et 4. Cyprian. Ep. 70, et 73. Euseb. 1. 6, c. 43, p. 244, 



introduction.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



381 



opportunity to turn to them, that the ancient Fathers were so 
far from thinking Confirmation an obsolete solemnity, that 
they esteemed it a necessary means of salvation, which none 
that were advanced to years of discretion could neglect with- 
out the utmost hazard to their souls. 

§. 5. For though they justly allowed, that 
Baptism alone was sufficient to save a person 0f benefit 6 
that died immediately after it ; yet those that 
lived, they affirmed, had need of further grace, which Con- 
firmation was necessary to convey. Agreeably whereunto, 
when our own Church declares that Baptism is sufficient to 
salvation, she speaks only of children that die before they com- 
mit actual sin, or (as it was worded in the first book of king 
Edward) depart out of this life in their infancy. To such in- 
deed (as all our former Common Prayer Books affirm) no man 
may think that any detriment shall come by deferring of their 
Confirmation. But when children come to that age, that 
partly by the frailty of their own flesh, partly by the assaults 
of the world and the devil, they begin to be in danger to fall 
into sundry hinds of sin, they declare, that it is most meet that 
Confirmation be ministered to those that be baptized, that, by 
imposition of hands and prayer, they may receive strength and 
defence against all temptations to sin, and the assaults of the 
icorld and the devil. For though the Baptism of Water 
washes away our former guilt, yet that alone cannot prevent 
the return of sin. It is true indeed, by the sacrament of 
Baptism we are made heirs of God, and admitted and re- 
ceived into the inheritance of sons : but still, till we receive 
the rite of Confirmation, we are but babes in Christ in the 
literal sense ; we are merely infants, that can do nothing, not 
able to resist the least violence or opposition, but lie exposed 
to every assault, and in danger of being foiled by every 
temptation. Baptism conveys the Holy Ghost only as the 
spirit or principle of life ; it is by Confirmation he becomes 
to us the Spirit of strength, and enables us to stir and move 
ourselves. When we are baptized, we are only listed under 
the banner of Christ, marked for his soldiers, and sworn to be 
faithful ; and not till Confirmation equipped for the battle, or 

CD. Niceph.l. 6, c. 3. Melchiad. Ep. ad Episc. Hispan. Optat.contr.Donatist. Cyril. 
Catech. Mystag. 3. Greg. Naz. Adhortat. ad S. Lavacrum. Theodoret. et Theophylact. 
in c. 1, ad Ephes. Hieron.'adv. Lucifer. Ambr. lib. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. iv. col. 349, 
A. et de Sacr. 1. 3, c. 2, torn. iv. col. 363, H. Concil. Elib. Can. 77, torn. i. col. 978, E. 
Concil. Laod. Can. 48, torn. i. col. 1505, A. 



382 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[CHAP. IX. 



furnished with arms to withstand the enemy. It is then also 
that we are sealed with the Lord's signature, marked, as it 
were, for God's sheep, and so secured from being stolen by 
robbers. 

This was the language of the primitive Fathers, which they 
supported by the example both of our Saviour and his Apos- 
tles. Our Lord himself, they observe, did not enter into the 
wilderness, the place of temptation, before he was prepared 
for it by the descent of the Spirit. And the Apostles, though 
endued with baptismal grace, and though cheered and en- 
couraged with their Master's presence, were timorous and 
fearful, not daring to stand the least shock or trial, till 
strengthened and confirmed by the Holy Ghost : but from 
that instant we find they were fearless and undaunted, not to 
be moved or shaken from their faith by any apprehensions 
either of prisons or death. 

§. 6. From this instance of the Apostles we 
un^cTss^y may also infer, that the want of the rite, of 
receiving of the which we are now discoursing, is by no means 
supplied, as some have imagined, by the ministry 
of the holy Eucharist. This had been given to the Apostles 
by our Lord himself; and yet we see their Confirmation was 
not afterwards the less necessary. It is true, by the ministry 
of the holy Eucharist, the Spirit of ghostly strength is con- 
veyed ; and therefore in the times of primitive devotion, this 
blessed Sacrament was daily administered, that those who 
would be safe against their spiritual enemies, might from 
hence be armed with fresh supplies of the divine assistance. 
But still we must remember that the principal design of the 
holy Eucharist is to renew the work of preceding rites, to re- 
pair the breaches that the enemy has made, and to supply 
fresh forces where the old ones fail. For this reason the Sa- 
crament of the Eucharist is to be often repeated, whereas 
Baptism and Confirmation is but once administered. But 
now this shews that Confirmation (in the regular and ordinary 
administration of it) is as much required to go before the 
Eucharist, as Baptism is to precede either that or Confirma- 
tion. Upon which account (as I have already observed 16 ) our 
Church admits none to the Communion before Confirmation, 
unless necessity requires it. And indeed it may as well be 
imagined, that because the Eucharist conveys remission of 

is Page 262. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



383 



sins, it therefore may supply the want of Baptism, as that be- 
cause it conveys ghostly strength, therefore there is no need 
of Confirmation after it. Or again, the Eucharist itself may as 
well be omitted, because prayer has the promise of whatever is 
asked, as Confirmation be rendered useless or unnecessary, 
because the Eucharist will supply us with grace. The Spirit 
of God comes which way he pleases ; but yet, if we expect 
his grace or blessing, we must ask for and seek it by those 
ways and means which he himself has thought fit to appoint 
S. 7. But lastly, as Baptism is now for the most w 

3 t . . v • o i • i i Necessary to con- 

part administered to infants, this holy rite is af- firm the benefits 

terwards necessary to confirm to them the bene- of Ba P tlsm - 
fits of that holy Sacrament. For though the charity of the 
Church accepts of sureties in behalf of infants, which are not 
in a condition to contract for themselves; yet when they ar- 
rive at years of discretion, she expects them to take the cove- 
nant upon themselves, as their own act and deed : which is 
one of the considerations for which the Church declares Con- 
firmation to be very convenient to be observed: viz. to the end 
that children being now come to the years of discretion, and 
having learned ivhat their godfathers and godmothers promised 
for them in Baptism, they may therefore tvith their oiun mouth 
and consent openly before the Church ratify and confirm the 
same, and also promise that, by the grace of God, they will 
evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things 
as they by their own confessions have assented unto} 1 And 
indeed they who refuse in their own persons to ratify the vow 
which was made in their name, renounce in effect all the be- 
nefits and advantages, to which the contract of their sureties 
had before entitled them. 

Having thus said what I thought convenient concerning the 
institution, the necessity and end of Confirmation, the manner 
and order of administering it by the ancients should be spoken 
to in the next place. But this may be done to better advan- 
tage, by comparing our own and the ancient offices together. 
And therefore the further particulars shall be taken into con- 
sideration, as the office itself shall lead and direct me. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Office. 
Two of the rubrics, which relate to this office, are printed 
at the end of the Catechism, which, till the last review, was 

17 Preface to the Office ; or part of the rubric before the Catechism in the old books. 



384 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[CHAP. IX. 



rather a part of the order of Confirmation, than an office by 
itself; it being inserted between the rubrics relating to Con- 
firmation, and the order for the administration of it. 
Rubric i. The The former of these rubrics is, in the first 

age of persons to place, concerning the age of the persons to be 
econ rme . confirmed, which it determines shall be as soon 
as children are come to a competent age, and can say, in their 
mother-tongue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten 
Commandments, and also can answer to the other questions of 
the Catechism. In the primitive Church indeed, such persons 
as were baptized in the presence of the Bishop, were immedi- 
ately presented to him in order for Confirmation. 18 Nor was 
this only true with respect to adult persons, but also with re- 
gard to infants, who, if a Bishop was present, were frequently 
confirmed immediately upon their Baptism ; as may be shew- 
ed from direct testimonies of the ancients, as well as from that 
known usage or custom, of giving the holy Eucharist to in- 
fants, which ordinarily presupposes their confirmation. 19 The 
same is practised by the Greek Church to this day. 20 And in 
our own Church indeed, those who are baptized after they 
are come to years of discretion, are to be confirmed by 
the Bishop as soon after their baptism as conveniently may 
be. 21 But in relation to children, their Confirmation is defer- 
red, and with a great deal of reason, till tliey come to a com- 
petent age, and can say the Catechism. For it being required 
that at Confirmation they renew the vow that was made for 
them at their baptism, and ratify the same in their own persons; 
it is fit they should know and understand the nature of the 
obligation, before they bind themselves under it. Nor can 
any detriment arise to a child, by deferring its Confirmation 
to such an age ; because, as our Church has declared, (on 
purpose to satisfy people that are scrupulous in this very mat- 
ter,) it is certain by God's word, that children which are bap- 
tized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly 
saved. 22 Their original sin is done away by Baptism, and they 
are confirmed and secured by death itself from any future guilt ; 
so that no danger can ensue, if their Confirmation be deferred 
till such time as it can be of use. 

18 Tertull. de Bapt. c. 7, 8. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 3, n. 1. Const. Ap. I. 7, c. 43, 
44. Amphiloch. in Vit. Basil, c. 5. Dionys. Eccl. Hier. c. 2. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 
3, c. 2. Optat. 1. 4, p. 81. 19 See both these points proved in Mr. Bingham's Anti- 
quities of the Christian Church, book 12, chap. 1, 1 vol. royal Svo, p. 543, &c. 20 See 
Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 116. 21 See the first rubric at the end of 
the Office for Baptism of Persons of Riper Years. 22 Rubric at the end of the Office 
for Public Baptism of Infants. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



385 



Bucer indeed (who generally runs into extremes) finds fault 
with our Church for administering it too soon ; and would 
•iave none admitted to this holy rite till such time as they have 
had an opportunity of giving sufficient testimonies of their 
faith and desire of living to God by their life and conversa- 
tion. 23 But we have already shewed, that the enabling persons 
to give such testimonies of their faith and practice is the end 
of Confirmation ; and therefore surely Confirmation is to be 
administered, to assist them in manifesting their faith and prac- 
tice, and not to be deferred till they are already manifested. 
For this reason it is very evidently the design of our Church, 
•that children be confirmed before they have opportunities of 
being acquainted with sin ; that so the Holy Spirit may take 
early possession of their youthful hearts, and prevent those 
sins to which, without his assistance, the very tenderness of 
their age would be apt to expose them. It is highly expedi- 
ent, that those who are confirmed should be old enough to 
understand the nature and advantages of the rite they are ad- 
mitted to, and the obligations it lays upon them : and if they 
are duly apprized of this, they are deemed by our Church 
qualified enough. For they that are capable of this know- 
ledge, are yet at years to discern between good and evil : and 
therefore that must be the proper time to secure them, by the 
invocation of the Spirit, in the paths of virtue. Accordingly, 
it was declared by the rubric prefixed to the order for Con- 
firmation, in all the Common Prayer Books before the last 
review, That forasmuch as Confirmation is ministered to them 
that he baptized, that by imposition of hands and prayer they 
may receive strength and defence against all temptations to sin, 
and the assaidts of the ivorld and the devil ; it is most meet to 
be ministered, when children come to that age, that partly by 
the frailty of their own flesh, partly by the assaidts of the 
world and the devil, they begin to be in danger to fall into sun- 
dry hinds of sin. The reason why this was not continued at 
the review in 1661, was not because the Church had altered 
her mind, but because the foregoing part of the rubric was 
changed into a proper preface, with which the office is now 
introduced. 

§. 2. The next thing mentioned in this rubric, Bishops the - only 
is the Minister of Confirmation, who, it declares, Ministers of con- 
must be a Bishop ; consonant to the first ex- firraation - 

23 Buceri Censura, apud Script. Anglican, p. 4S2, 483, 

2 c 



386 OFJTHE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 



amples we read of it in the Acts, or proceedings of the Apos- 
tles themselves. For Peter and John were sent by them 
from Jerusalem to confirm the Samaritans, though Philip had 
been there to convert and baptize them : 24 which plainly 
shews, that the office was beyond a deacon's province, and 
limited indeed to the highest order of the Church. For which 
reason the honour of dispensing this holy ordinance was al- 
ways reserved to the ministry of Bishops. 25 

I have had occasion indeed to shew that the administering 
the chrism, or the unction which was used as a part of Con- 
firmation, was often, for certain reasons, allowed to Presby- 
ters. 26 But even in such cases I have observed, that the right 
of consecrating tlie unction, and of ' imposing the hands, were 
both very strictly reserved to the Bishop. A few instances 
indeed may be produced of Presbyters, and even Deacons, 
being allowed to perform this office. 27 But then it was by a 
special licence or commission from the Bishop, and in cases, 
for the most part, of some great extremity or danger. Though 
indeed the allowing this in any case whatever seems very 
much to run counter to the general practice and sense of the 
Church, which at all times and places very religiously looked 
upon the imposition of hands, as the peculiar and incom- 
municable prerogative of Bishops. 

But then as the Bishops have the sole honour, 
foreto doit often" so na ve they also the whole charge of this in- 
stitution. And since it must be wholly omitted, 
if they do not perform it, the Church hath enjoined the fre- 
quent administration of it by those reverend fathers. In 
former ages (as our Church declares 2S ) this holy action has 
been accustomed to be performed in the Bishop's Visitation 
every third year : for which reason she wills and appoints, 
that every Bishop or his Suffragan, in his accustomed Visita- 
tion, do in his own person carefully observe the said custom. 
And if in that year, by reason of some infirmity, he be not able 
personally to visit, then he shall not omit the execution of that 
duty of Confirmation the next year after, as he may conveni- 
ently : though the Reformatio Legum (as cited by bishop 

2i Acts viii. 14, Src. 25 Cyprian. Ep. 73, ad Jubaian. p. 202. Firmil. Ep. 75, ap. 
Cypr. p. 221. Vide et Cyprian, in Append, p. 25, et 26. Concil. Elib. Can. 3S, et 77. 
Innocent. Ep. 1, ad Decent. Ambr. in Ep. ad Hebr. vi. 2, torn. iii. col. 633, F. Dionys. 
Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 5, p. 117, B. Hieron. contr. Lucifer, c. 4. Gelas. Ep. 9, ad Episc. 
Euseb. 1. 6, c. 43. Aug. de Trin. 1. 15, c. 26. 28 See page 355. 27 See instances of 
tins in Sir. Binsfaam's Antiquities, book 12, c. 2, sect. 4, 5, 1 vol. royal Svo, p. 551. 

23 In the LXth Canon. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



387 



Gibson 29 ) seems to appoint, that Confirmation be administered 
every year. 

8. 3. The remaining part of this rubric is con- . 

• A? 4-1 i .i i ■ r A godfather or 

cerning the godfather or godmother, which every godmother neces- 
one that is confirmed is obliged to have as a JJ-J^f' Confirm ~ 
witness of their confirmation. Dr. Nichols tells 
us, that " our wise reformers, because there was not the like 
reason for them as there was before the Reformation, and be- 
cause it gave the parents an unnecessary trouble in procuring 
them, have laid that usage aside." 30 But one would wonder 
how the doctor should be so much mistaken, immediately 
after he must have printed and corrected this very rubric ; 
and at the same time that, to account for the alteration, he 
cites the rubric immediately following. Nor can any reason 
be given, why the doctor should so freely charge the providing 
these godfathers as an unnecessary trouble. They are cer- 
tainly as useful at the confirmation of a youth, as they are at 
the baptism of a person that is adult. In both cases they are 
witnesses of the engagements, which the persons so baptized 
or confirmed lay themselves under ; and consequently, will 
be proper and continual monitors to check or reclaim them, 
should they at any time hereafter be tempted to abandon the 
interest of Christ, and take part with his enemies. And for 
the prevention of any one's entering upon this trust, who will 
not be careful to discharge the duty of it, the Church pro- 
vides, that no person be admitted godfather or godmother to 
any Child at Christening or Confirmation before the said per- 
son so undertaking hath received the holy Communion 31 
II. The next rubric relates to the care which 

Vi yy , /> • 7 • , , The Minister to 

the Curate oj every parish is to use preparatory prepare his pa- 
to Confirmation, who, whensoever the Bishop JjoifiSaSiMi 
shall give knoivledge for children to be brought 
unto him for their Confirmation, is either to bring or send in 
writing, with his hand subscribed thereunto, the names of alt 
such persons ivithin his parish, as he shall think fit to be pre- 
sented to the Bishop to be confirmed. And by the sixty-first 
canon he is further enjoined to use his best endeavour to pre- 
pare and make able, and likewise to procure as many as he 
can, to be then brought; though he is also to take especial 
care that none be presented, but such as can render an account 

29 Codex Juris Ecclesiast. Tit. 19, cap. 2, vol. i. p. 454. 30 See his note (cZ) upon 
the rubric before Confirmation. 31 Canon XIX. 

2 C 2 



388 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[chap. IX. 



of their faith, according to the Catechism. When they are 
brought, if the Bishop approve of them, he is to confirm them 
in manner folloiving. 

Sect. II. — Of the preparatory part of the Office. 

I. Upon the day appointed, all that are to be 
T and prefare. 10 then confirmed, being placed and standing in or- 
der before the Bishop, he (or some other 3Iinis- 

ter appointed by him) is to read the preface, with which the 
office begins, and which, as I have already hinted, was only a 
rubric in all the old Common Prayer Books ; but at the last 
review was changed into a preface, to be directed to those that 
shall offer themselves to be confirmed ; that so the Church 
might be sure they are apprized of the qualifications that are 
requisite to this holy ordinance, and of the solemn engage- 
ments under which they are going to enter themselves by it. 

II. The end of Confirmation being thus made 
The Se i r°. nand known, the Bishop in the next place, by a so- 
lemn question, (which was added at the last re- 
view,) demands of the candidates an assurance that they will 
comply with it: asking them, in the presence of God and the 
congregation, ivhether they will renew their baptismal vow, and 
ratify the same in their own persons, &c. To this every one 
to be confirmed, as a token of his assent, is audibly to an- 
swer, I do. 

III. After this follow two or three short ver- 
a^responses s ^ es or responses betwixt the Bishop and the 

congregation, with which the order of Confirma- 
tion in all the old Common Prayer Books used to begin. 
They are a proper preparation to the following solemnity, are 
often used in ancient Liturgies, and are taken out of the Book 
of Psalms : 32 though the last of them has been varied since the 
first book of king Edward, in which, in the room of it, was the 
usual salutation of, The Lord be with you : And with thy spirit. 
The Collect ^ ' ^ e bishop aR d people having thus joined 
their requests, the Bishop, in the next place, pro- 
ceeds alone to collect their petitions into a continued form ; 
in which he prays that God, who had vouchsafed to regenerate 
the persons who now come to be confirmed, by Water and 
the Holy Ghost, and had given unto them forgiveness of all 
their sins, would now strengthen them with the Holy Ghost 

32 Psalm cxxiv. 8. cxiii. 2. cii. 1. 



sect, in.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 389 



the Comforter, and daily increase in them the gifts of grace, 
viz. the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are tran- 
scribed into this prayer from the old Greek and Latin trans- 
lations of Isaiah xi. 2, and which were repeated in the very 
same words in the office of Confirmation, as long ago as St. 
Ambrose's time : 33 from whence, and the Greek Liturgy, 34 
this whole prayer is almost verbatim transcribed. 

Sect. III. — Of the Solemnity of Confirmation. 

The preparatory part of this office being now 
finished, and all of them in order kneeling be- hSdsanessL- 
fore the Bishop, (which is a suitable posture for Jjj^ 1 ? j 1 Con " 
those that are to receive so great a blessing,) the 
Bishop is to lay his hand upon the head of every one severally. 
This is one of the most ancient ceremonies in the world ; and 
has always been used to determine the blessing pronounced 
to those particular persons on whom the hands are laid ; and 
to import that the persons, who thus lay on their hands, act 
and bless by divine authority. Thus Jacob blessed Ephraim 
and Manasses, not as a parent only, but as a prophet : 35 Mo- 
ses laid his hands on Joshua, by express command from God, 
and as supreme Minister over his people: 36 and thus our 
blessed Lord, whilst in the state of humiliation, laid his hands 
upon little children, 37 and those that were sick with divers 
diseases, 38 to bless and heal them. When indeed our Saviour 
gave the Spirit to his Apostles just before his ascension, he 
acted by a power paramount and inherent. He gave of his 
own, and therefore dispensed it with authority ; for he breath- 
ed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.™ But now 
this would have been absurd in any that acted by appointment 
or delegation : and the Apostles, from so ancient a custom 
and universal a practice, continued the rite of imposition of 
hands for communicating the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, 
which was so constantly and regularly observed by them, that 
St. Paul calls the whole office laying on of hands ,- 40 a name 
which is usually retained amongst the Latin Fathers ; Confirm- 
ation being never administered for many centuries afterwards, 
Sir any part of the Church, without this ceremony. 

It was the custom indeed, in some places, for Ab]owonthe 
the Bishop to lay both his hands across upon the cheek used in- 

33 Ambr. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. iv. col. 349, A. de Sacram. 1. 3, c. 2, torn, iv. col. 363, H. 
s * Euchol. Graec. p. 355, Offic. S. Bapt. 3i Gen. xlviii. 14. 3S Numb, xxvii. IS 
37 Matt. xix. 13. Mark x. 16. 33 Luke iv. 40 . 39 John xx. 22. 40 Heb. vi. 2. 



390 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



[chap. IX. 



stead of it by the head of the party confirmed, m allusion to our 

Church of Rome. » -i .1 ,1 ^ • i i 

baviour s death upon the Cross, m whom we be- 
lieve, and from whom we receive the Holy Ghost. But in 
no Church whatever was the imposition of hands omitted or 
discontinued till the Church of Rome of late years laid it 
aside, and now uses in the stead of it to give the person con- 
firmed a little blow on the cheek, to remind him that for the 
future he must be prepared to undergo any injury or affront 
for the name of Jesus. 41 But, notwithstanding this, the Ro- 
manists themselves seem to be apprehensive, that imposition 
of hands is essential to this office. For whenever they are 
charged with laying it aside, they endeavour to defend them- 
selves by pleading, that hands are imposed, when the person 
is hit on the cheek, or when the ointment is applied to him. 43 
But every body must see through the ridiculousness of this, 
since the hands are no otherwise concerned in either of these 
ceremonies, than as they cannot be performed without them. 
For this reason our Church, at the Reformation, wisely dis- 
continued the blow oil the cheek, and restored the ancient and 
apostolical use of laying on of hands. 

Prayer another §• 2 - But though the laying on of hands is a 
essential to Con- token that the Bishops act in this office by divine 
authority ; yet at the same time, they sue to hea- 
ven for the blessing they bestow, in humble acknowledgment 
that the precious gifts hereby conferred are not the effect of 
their own power and holiness, but of the abundant mercy and 
favour of Him who is the only fountain of all goodness and 
grace. Under a due sense of this, even the Apostles them- 
selves, when they laid their hands upon the Samaritans, prayed 
that they might receive the Holy Ghost. 43 And after their 
example do their successors with us pray, that the person on 
whom they lay their hands may be defended with the heavenly 
grace of God, and continue his for ever, and daily increase in 
his holy Spirit more and more, until he come into his everlast- 
ing kingdom. Amen. 

This form indeed is very different from what was appointed 
to be used by the first book of king Edward VI., in which 
immediately after the prayer, beginning, Almighty and ever- 
lasting God, the Minister was to use the following words : 

Sign them, Lord, and mark them to be thine for ever, 

41 Vide Catechismum ad Parochos de Confirmationis Sacramento, par. 2. p. 174, Svo, 
Lugdun. 1636. « Sirmondus Ant. 2, par. 1, c. 7, et Tho. Waldeu. lib. 2, c. 13. 
43 Acts viii. 15. 



SECT. III.] 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



391 



by the virtue of thy holy Cross and Passion. Confirm and 
strengthen them ivith the inward Unction of the Holy Ghmt, 
mercifully unto everlasting life. Amen. 

Then the Bishop was to cross them on the forehead, and 
lay his hand upon their heads, saying, 

N. / sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and lay mine hand 
upon thee ; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

These forms were certainly much more conformable to 
those that were used in the primitive Church, than that which 
we have now. What was the occasion of changing them, I 
do not find : though it is probable the first might be laid 
aside, because it referred to the ancient ceremony of anoint- 
ing, which was discontinued at the Reformation, except the 
Unction, that was ordered by the first Liturgy to be used at 
Baptism, was accounted preparatory to Confirmation, which 
I have already shewed 44 to be not unlikely. But however, in 
the second book of king Edward, the ceremony of anointing 
was thrown entirely aside, even out of the office of Baptism : 
and therefore it is probable they threw out this form at the 
same time, which indeed, if it had continued after the Unction 
was totally removed, would only have looked like the ruins 
of an ancient superstructure. 

8. 3. It must indeed be owned in behalf of _ 

,, .° , ., The use of Unc- 

this ceremony, that it was very ancient and very tion in confirma- 
significant. Some contend that it was practised tio ^ p™ 11 ^ 6 

i i a i i • i o n • an " catholic. 

by the Apostles, and interpret the texts or Scrip- 
ture referred to in the margin, 45 of a material unction adminis- 
tered in Confirmation. But those texts have been better 
judged to mean a spiritual unction of the Holy Ghost, by 
which persons were in those days anointed or consecrated to 
the office of the ministry. 40 However, it is certain, that within 
a very few years after the Apostles, the holy Fathers used to 
apply Oil and Balm to those that were confirmed, as an ex- 
ternal sign of this inward unction of the Holy Spirit, and to 
represent the Baptism of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 
with fire, of which oil we know is the properest material. 
Theophilus Antiochenus, 47 who lived and flourished within 
seventy years of the Apostle St. John, and many others of the 
ancientest Fathers, 48 speak of it as a rite long established and 

44 Page 354. « 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. 1 John ii. 20, 27. « See Mr. Stebbing'a 

Clagget, p. 80, &c. 47 Ad Autolychum, p. 33, edit. Oxon. 1684. 4S Tertull. de Res. 
Cam. c. 8. Orig. Horn. 7, in Ezek. Cyprian. Ep. 70, 73. 



392 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION". 



[CHAP. IX. 



used ; insomuch that it is to discover from them, whether it 
was of apostolical practice or not. I need not shew that the 
use of it was continued in all parts of the Church, through 
every century, quite down to the Reformation : for this may 
be gathered from the very names by which they have always 
chose to distinguish this office, viz. the Anointing or CJirism, 
the same name which the Greek Church also uses for it till 
this day, as keeping religiously to the primitive usage. 49 

§. 4. Another ancient ceremony retained by 
A of a Jh eCroff n our Church at the first Reformation, (as appears 
by the rubric which I have cited above,) was 
the sign of the Cross. This was used (as I have already ob- 
served) by the primitive Christians, upon all occasions ; and 
therefore we may assure ourselves, they would not omit it in 
so solemn an action as in that of Confirmation. Tertullian 
is clear for the use of it in his time ; and in after-ages testi- 
monies are so numerous, that it is endless to cite them. I 
shall therefore only observe, that the name Consignation 
(which was another name by which, it is well known, the La- 
tin writers distinguish Confirmation) seems to have taken its 
rise from this ceremony of signing the person, at the time of 
Confirmation, with the sign of the Cross. And from hence 
too, it is probable, it is sometimes called S^oaytc by the 
Greeks, a name which they generally use to denote the sign 
of the Cross. 

But now neither this nor the unction having any text of 
Scripture that is clear on their side ; and since it cannot be 
made to appear that either of them was practised or used by 
the Apostles ; we may reasonably suppose that they were taken 
up at first by the authority and discretion of every Church for 
itself ; and that therefore every Church has liberty, as to her- 
self, to lay them aside, since nothing appears essential to the 
office, but what we find the Apostles used, viz. Prayer ac- 
companied with Imposition of Hands. 

Sect. IV. — Of the concluding Devotions. 

I. After the persons were all confirmed, it 
T Lor? s rs praySl d was usual for tne Bishop, in the primitive Church, 
to salute them with peace, to denote that peace 
(both temporal and eternal) was the happy fruit of the Holy 

49 Sir Paul Rycaut's State of the Greek Church, p. 171, and Dr. Smith's Account of 
the same, p. 117." so Tertull. de Res. Cam. c. 1, et de Praescript. c. 40. 



SECT. IV 



OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 



393 



Ghost conferred and received in this solemnity. Accordingly, 
in king Edward's first Common Prayer Book, the Bishop, 
immediately after he had laid his hands upon all that were 
brought and presented to him, was to say, Th,e peace of the 
Lord abide with you ; to which the answer returned was, 
And with thy spirit. What offence this was capable of giv- 
ing I cannot discover; but it is certain that it was thrown out 
when Bucer revised it : though at the last review, soon after 
the Restoration, the usual salutation of, The Lord be with you, 
And with thy spirit, was added in the room of it, together 
with, Let us pray, and the Lord's Prayer, which should not 
be left out of any office, especially where it comes in so pro- 
perly ; and therefore (all kneeling down) the Bishop is here 
directed to add it. 

II. After this, the Bishop, in the next place, The Collect 
prays that what he has done may not be an empty 

and insignificant sign. And this he does with so noble a mix- 
ture of humility and faith, as well agrees with the purest times. 
Depending upon the faith and promise of God, he knows that 
the graces he has now been conferring are as sure a conse- 
quence of the office he has performed, as if he had in himself 
a power to give them. But still he considers from whom 
these gifts and graces come, and who alone can preserve and 
secure them ; and therefore, under a due sense of this, he 
makes his humble supplications, that, as he has now laid his 
hands upon these people (after the example of the Apostles) to 
certify them thereby of God's favour and gracious goodness 
towards them ; the fatherly hand of God may be over them, 
his Holy Spirit be ever with them, and so lead them in the 
hioiuledge and obedience of his ivord, that in the end they may- 
obtain everlasting life. 

III. And because the ancients believed Con- 
firmation to be a preservation both of body and T1 cone C ct nd 
soul, 51 an additional collect was added at the 
Restoration, from those that are placed at the end of the 
Communion-office, that God would direct, sa?ictify, and go- 
vern, both our souls and bodies in the ways of his laws, and 
in the works of his commandments, &c. 

IV. A blessing concludes all offices ; and 
therefore one ought more especially to end this, 16 essing> 



51 Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 3, §. 5, p. 29 J. 



394 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. X. 



it being as it were an epitome of the whole administration, 
which is but one continued and solemn benediction. 
The Rubric After all is added a rubric, that none be ad- 
e u n °' mittedto the holy Communion, until such time 
as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed. 
This is exactly conformable to the practice of the primitive 
Church, which always ordered that Confirmation should pre- 
cede the Eucharist, except there was extraordinary cause to 
the contrary : such as was the case of clinick baptism, of the 
absence of a Bishop, or the like; in which cases the Eucharist 
is allowed before Confirmation. The like provision (as I 
have already observed 52 ) is made by our own provincial Con- 
stitutions, as well as the rubric which is now before us, which 
admit none to communicate, unless in danger of death, but 
such as are confirmed, or at least have a reasonable impedi- 
ment for not being confirmed. 53 And the glossary allows no 
impediment to be reasonable, but the want of a Bishop near 
the place. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF 
MATRIMONY. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 
That this holy state was instituted by God, is 
£StS£. evident from the two first chapters in the Bible : 1 
- ~ whence it came to pass, that amongst all the 

descendants from our first parents, the numerous inhabitants 
of the different nations in the world, there has been some re- 
ligious way of entering into this state, in consequence and 
testimony of this divine institution. Among Christians espe- 
cially, from the very first ages of the Church, those that have 
been married have been always joined together in a solemn 
manner by an ecclesiastical person. 2 And by several Canons 
of our own Church, it is declared to be no less than prosti- 

52 Page 262. «3 Provinc. Lindw. Cap. de Sacr. Unct. 1 Gen. i. 2S, and ii. 13 
24. 2 Ignat. Ep. ad Polycarp. §. 5, pag. 9. Tertull. ad Uxor. I. 2, c. ult. p. 171, et 
de Pudicitia. c. 4, p. 557, B. Eucharist. Ep. 1, ad Episc. Afric. Concil. torn. i. col. 534, 
B. C Carthag. Concil. 4, Can. 13, torn. ii. col. 1201, A. B. 



SECT. I.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



395 



tuting one's daughter, to give her in marriage without the 
blessing of the Priests. 3 Insomuch that some commentators 
of no small character interpret those words of Saint Paul, 
of marrying in the Lord? of marrying according to the form 
and order prescribed by the Apostles. But I think those 
words are more naturally to be understood of marrying one 
of the same faith ; as by the dead that die in the Lord? are 
undoubtedly to be understood, those that die in the faith of 
Christ. However, it is certain, that both in the Greek and 
Latin Churches, 6 offices were drawn up in the most early 
times for the religious celebration of this holy ordinance ; 
but being afterwards mixed with superstitious rites, our re- 
formers thought fit to lay them aside, and to draw up a form 
more decent and grave, and more agreeable to the usage of 
the primitive Church. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics concerning the Banns. 

I. Before any can be lawfully married to- Rubric j 
gether, the Banns are directed to be published Banns, what the 
in the Church, i. e. public proclamation (for so ™ rd si § nifies - 
the word signifies) must be made to the congregation, con- 
cerning the design of the parties that intend to come together. 
This care of the Church to prevent clandestine marriage is, 
as far as we can find, as old as Christianity itself. ™ , . 

-n m it n l » i • n Why, and now 

Jbor lertullian tells us, that in his time all mar- often to be pub- 
riages were accounted clandestine, that were not llshed - 
published beforehand in the Church, and were in danger of 
being judged adultery and fornication. 7 And by several an- 
cient constitutions of our own Church, it was ordered, that 
none should be married before notice should be given of it in 
the public congregation on three several Sundays or holy- 
days. 8 And so it was also ordered by the rubric prefixed to 
the form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the book of Com- 
mon Prayer, viz. that the banns of all that are to be married 
together be published in the church three several Sundays or 
holy -days, in time of divine service ; unto which was added at 
the last review, immediately before tlie sentences for the offer ■- 
tory ; but it is ordered by a late act of parliament,* that all 

* Statute 26 George II., " To prevent clandestine marriages," which should be care- 
fully perused by every parochial Clergyman. 

3 Concil. Winton. A. D. 1076. Constitut. Richardi Episc. Sar. ann. 1217. Spelm. 
torn. ii. * 1 Cor. vii. 39. 5 Rev. xiv. 13. <» Severinus Binius in Can. 13. Con- 
cil. Carthag. 4, ejusque Sequax Franciscus Longus a Cariolano, et alii. 7 Tertull. 
de Pudicitia, cap. 4. 8 See Bishop Gibson's Codex, Tit. 22, cap. 6, p. 510, and John- 
son's Ecclesiastical Laws, 1200, 11, 1322, 7, 132S, 8. 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. x. 



banns of matrimony shall be -published upon three Sundays 
'preceding the solemnization of marriage, immediately after th 
second Lesson. 

The poverty of §• 2. The design of the Church in publishing 
the parties, or these banns, is to be satisfied whether there be 

their not being ■ ' . ,. 

settled in the any just cause or impediment why the parties, so 
place where they as k e d, should not be joined together in matri- 

are asked, no ' _ Trl J o " 

reason for prow- mony. What are allowed for lawful impedi- 
biting the banns. mentS) i s h a n have occasion to shew in the next 
section. In the mean while I shall here observe, that the 
Curate is not to stop his proceeding, because any peevish or 
pragmatical person, without just reason or authority, pretends 
to forbid him ; as is the case sometimes, when the church- 
wardens, or other officers of the parish, presume to forbid the 
publication of the banns because the parties are poor, and so 
like to create a charge to the parish ; or because the man is 
not perhaps an inhabitant, according to the laws made for the 
settlement of the poor. But poverty is no more an impedi- 
ment of marriage than wealth ; and the kingdom can as little 
subsist without the poor, as it can without the rich. And as 
to the pretence of the man's not being an inhabitant of the 
parish, it is certain, that by the canon law a traveller is a 
parishioner of every church he comes to. 9 The Minister 
where he is, is to visit him if sick, to perform the offices to 
him while living, and to bury him when dead : and no other 
Clergyman can regularly perform any divine office to such a 
person, so long as he continues within the said parish. In 
short, he is a parishioner in all respects, except that he is not 
liable to be kept by the parish, if he falls into poverty. Nor 
does the bidding of banns alter his condition in that respect : 
for in that, it is not considered where the person has a legal 
settlement, but where he dwells or lives at present. And the 
spiritual courts acted by this rule (if by any) when they grant- 
ed a licence to a man to be married, that had not been four 
and twenty hours within their jurisdiction ; and write him in 
the licence, seaman of that port or parish where he landed 
last, or where perhaps he lodged the night before. 

§. 3. The penalty incurred for marrying any 
persons (without a faculty or licence) before the 
marries without banns have been thus duly published, is, by the 

licence or banns. c ^ i_ j i j a u ■ 

canons of our Church, declared to be suspension 
for three years. 10 Nor is there any exemption allowed to 

9 Lyndwood, 1. 3 1. 15, c. Altissimus, v. Peregrinantes. 10 Canon LXII. 



The penalty of a 
Minister who 



SECT. I.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



397 



any churches or chapels, under colour of any peculiar liberty 
or privilege. The prohibition is the same in one place as in 
another. Marry where they will, the canons inflict the same 
penalty upon the Minister ; 11 who, by an act of parliament 
made in the tenth year of queen Anne, 12 shall, besides his sus- 
pension, forfeit one hundred pounds for every offence ; or if 
he be a prisoner in any private gaol, he shall be removed to 
the county gaol, charged in execution with the aforesaid 
penalty, and with all the causes of his former imprisonment. 
And whatever gaoler shall permit such marriages to be solemn- 
ized in his prison, shall, for every such offence, forfeit also 
the sum of one hundred pounds. And by the Act 26 George 
II. before mentioned, the person who shall solemnize matri- 
mony in any other place than a church or public chapel, or 
without publication of banns, or licence, is deemed guilty of 
felony, and is to be transported for fourteen years, and the 
marriage declared to be null and void. 

§. 4. The ecclesiastical courts would have us 
to believe, that a licence is necessary, even after t^prohfbUed. 
the banns have been duly published, to empower 
us to marry during such times as are said to be prohibited ; 13 
and this they found upon an old popish canon law, which they 
pretend was established among other popish canons and de- 
cretals, by a statute 25 Henry VIII. But now it is certain 
that the times prohibited by the pope's canon law are not the 
same that are pretended to be prohibited here in England ; 
or if they were, the statute declares, that the popish canons 
and decretals are of force only so far forth as they have been 
received by sufferance, consent, or custom. 14 Now there is 
no canon nor custom of this realm, that prohibits marriages 
to be solemnized at any time : but on the contrary, our rubric, 
which is confirmed by act of parliament, (and which is there- 
fore as much a law of this realm as any can be,) requires no 
more than that the banns be published in the church three 
several Sundays in the time of divine service ; and then, if no 
impediment be alleged, gives the parties, so asked, leave to 
be married, without so much as intimating that they must 
wait till marriage comes in. As to the authority of Lyndwood 
and some other such pleas offered by the gentlemen of the 

11 Canon LXIII. 12 10 Annse, cap. 19, in an act, entitled, An Act for laying se 
veral Duties, &c. 13 Viz. From Advent-Sunday to the Octave of the Epiphany in 
elusive; from Septuagesima-Sunday till the Sunday after Easter inclusive; and from 
the first of the Rogation-days (i. e. the Monday before Ascension-day) till the day be 
(ore Trinity-Sunday inclusive. " Chap. 21. 



398 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. X. 



spiritual courts, the reader, that desires further satisfaction, 
may consult two learned authors upon this point, 15 who plainly 
enough shew, that the chief motive of their insisting upon 
licences as necessary within these pretended prohibited times, 
is because marrying by banns is a hinderance to their fees. 
Though not de- ^ ^ s true indeed, it hath been an ancient cus- 
cent at some sea- torn of the primitive Church to prohibit persons 
6ons ' from entering upon their nuptials in solemn 

times, which are set apart for fasting and prayer, and other 
exercises of extraordinary devotion. Thus the Council of 
Laodicea forbids all marriages in the time of Lent, 16 and 
several other canons add other times, in which matrimony was 
not to be solemnized : which seems to be grounded upon the 
command of God, 17 the counsel of Saint Paul, 18 and the prac- 
tice of the sober part of mankind. 19 For even those who have 
wives ought, at such times, to be as those who have none ; 
and therefore those who have none ought not then to change 
their condition. Besides, there is so great a contrariety be- 
tween the seriousness that ought to attend the days of solemn 
religion, and the mirth that is expected at a marriage-feast, 
that it is not convenient they should meet together, lest we 
either violate religion, or disoblige our friends. This con- 
sideration so far prevailed even with the ancient Romans, that 
they would not permit those days that were dedicated to acts 
of religion, to be hindered or violated by nuptial celebrations. 20 
And Christians, one would think, should not be less observers 
of decency, than infidels or heathens. For which reason it 
would not be amiss, I humbly presume, if a prohibition was 
made, that no persons should be married during the more so- 
lemn seasons, either by licence or banns. But to prohibit 
marriage by banns, and admit of it by licence, seems not to 
be calculated for the increase of religion, but purely for the 
sake of enhancing the fees. 

Rubric 2 The V per sons that are to be married 

marriage'to be ? dwell in diverse parishes, the banns must be 
one Tth? iu as ^ e ^ ^ n oot ^ parishes, and the Curate of the 
churches where one parish is not to solemnize matrimony be- 
puhSed were troixt them, without a certificate of the banns 
being thrice asked from the Curate of the other 

\ 15 See Dr. Brett's Letters, entitled, Some Considerations on the Times wherein Mar 
riage is said to he prohibited ; and Mr. Johnson's Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 21. 
16 Can. 52, torn. i. col. 1505, C. " Exod. xix. 15. Joel ii. 16. 1S 1 Cor. vii. 5. 
i» 1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5. 2j Macrob. Saturn. 1. 1, c. 15, p. 262, Lugd. Bat. 16/0. 



SECT. II.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



399 



pmish. This seems to suppose what both the ancient and 
modern canons enjoin, viz. that marriage shall always be so- 
lemnized in the church or chapel where one of the parties 
dwelleth. And by our own canons, whatever Minister mar- 
ries them any where else, incurs the same penalty as for a 
clandestine marriage. 21 Nor is even a licence allowed to dis- 
pense with him for doing it. 22 And the late act for prevent- 
ing clandestine marriages expressly requires, that, in all cases 
where banns have been published, the marriage be solemn- 
ized in one of the churches where such publication had been 
made, and in no other place whatsoever ; and that no licence 
shall be granted to solemnize any marriage in any other church 
than that which belongeth to the parish, within which one of 
the parties to be married hath dwelt for four weeks immedi- 
ately preceding. Formerly it was a custom, that marriage 
should be performed in no other church but that to which the 
woman belonged as a parishioner : 23 and the ecclesiastical law 
allowed a fee due to the Curate of that church, whether she 
was married there or not ; which was generally reserved for 
him in the words of the licence : but those words have been 
omitted in licences granted since the Act 26 George II. took 
place, which gives no preference to the woman's parish. 

Sect. II. — Of the Rubric before the Preface 

For better security against clandestine mar- Thg canonical 
riages, the Church orders that all marriages be hours of ceiebrat- 
celebrated in the day-time: for those that mean jjf n ° f matri ~ 
honourably need not fly the light. By the sixty- 
second canon they are ordered to be performed in time of 
divine service,- but that practice is now almost, by universal 
consent, laid aside and discontinued : and the rubric only men- 
tions the day and time appointed, which the aforesaid canon 
expressly requires to be between the hours of eight and twelve 
in the forenoon : and though even a licence be granted, these 
hours are not dispensed with j 24 * for it is supposed that per- 
sons will be serious in the morning. And indeed formerly it 

* The archbishop of Canterbury, in virtue, I suppose, of the old legantine power, 
claims a privilege of granting licences for persons to be married, quolibet loco out 
tempore honesto ; i. e. in any decent time or place. A privilege which I cannot but 
humbly conceive his Grace would be very backward of using, were he apprized what 
indecencies generally attend it. 

N. B. This is expressly reserved to the archbishop, by statute 26 George II. " 
" Canon LXII. ^ Canon CII. 23 Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 21, p. IBS. 
*» Canon CII. 



400 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. x 



was required that the bridegroom and bride should be fasting 
when they made their matrimonial vow ; 25 by which means 
they were secured from being made incapable by drink, of 
acting decently and discreetly in so weighty an affair. 

8. 2. At the day and time appointed, the per- 

In what part of * 3 , , . i . A\ ' . , r ,, 

the church the sons to be mamed are directed, to come into the 
marriage is to be 5 0( fy f t ] ie c ] mr ch. The custom formerly was 

solemnized. & •> . J 

tor the couple, who were to enter upon this holy 
state, to be placed at the church- door, where the Priest was 
used to join their hands, and perform the greatest part of the 
matrimonial office. 26 It was here the husband endowed his 
wife with the portion or dowry before contracted for, which 
was therefore called Dos ad ostium ecclesice, The dowry at the 
church-door. 2 "' But at the Reformation the rubric was altered, 
and the whole office ordered to be performed within the 
church, where the congregation might afford more witnesses 
of the fact. 

And since God himself doth join those that are lawfully 
married, certainly the house of God is the fittest place wherein 
to make this religious covenant. And therefore, by the an- 
cient canons of this Church, the celebration of matrimony in 
taverns, or other unhallowed places, is expressly forbidden : 2S 
and the office is commanded to be performed in the church, 
not only to prevent all clandestine marriages, but also that 
the sacredness of the place may strike the greater reverence 
into the minds of the married couple, while they remember they 
make this holy vow in the place of God's peculiar presence. 
Who to be pre- §• ^* P ersons to De married, (saith the ru- 
sentattheso- brie) are to come into the church with their 
lemmzation. friends and neighbours, i. e. their relations and 
acquaintance, who ought to attend on this solemnity, to testify 
their consent to it, and to join with the minister in prayers for 
a blessing on it. Though it may not be improbable, but that 
by the friends here mentioned may be understood such as 
Paranymphs, or tne ancients used to call paranymphs, or bride- 
Bridemen, their men : some traces of which custom we find to 

antiquity. ag Q ^ ag ^ Q ^ a y g Q f g ams0Ilj wnose wife is 

25 Synod. Winton. anno 1308. Spelman, torn. i. p. 448. 

2a See the old Manuals, and Seidell's Uxor Ebraica, 1. 2, c. 27. p. 20% And from 
hence Chaucer, an old poet in the reign of Edward III., in his Wife of Lath : 
" She was a "worthy woman all her live, 
Husbands at the church-door had she five." 
27 See the Manuals, and Selden, as above. 2S Synod. Winton. ut supra. Synod. 
Exon. anno 12S7, Can. 7. Spelm. torn. ii. Concil. Lond. anno 1200, ibid. 



SECT. III.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



401 



said to have been delivered to his companion, who in the 
Septuagint version is called 'Nvfityayotyog, or brideman. 29 And 
that bridemen were in use among the Jews in our Saviour's 
time, is clear from St. John iii. 29. From the Jews the cus- 
tom was received by the Christians, who used it at first rather 
as a civil custom, and something that added to the solemnity 
of the occasion, than as a religious rite ; though it was after- 
wards countenanced so far as to be made a necessary part of 
the sacred solemnity. 30 An account of this custom as it pre- 
vailed here in the time of king Henry VIII. may be seen in 
Polydore Virgil. 31 Some remains of it are still left among us ; 
but as to countenancing or discountenancing it, our Church 
has left it (as in itself) a thing indifferent. 

§. 4. The remaining part of this rubric (which 
was added to the foregoing part at the Restor- thftwoparL^ 
ation) is concerning the position of the parties, 
whom it orders to stand, the man on the right hand, and the 
woman on the left, i. e. the man on the right hand of the wo- 
man, and the woman on the left hand of the man, as it is 
worded in the Salisbury Manual. The reason that is there 
given for it is a very weak one, viz. because the rib out of 
which the woman was formed was taken out of the left side 
of Adam. . The true reason to be sure is, because the right 
hand is the most honourable place ; which is therefore both 
by the Latin and Greek, and all Christian Churches, assigned 
to the man, as being the head of the wife. 33 The Jews are the 
only persons that I ever heard acted otherwise, who place 
the woman on the right hand of her husband, in allusion to 
that expression in the forty-fifth Psalm, JLt thy right hand 
did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, & c. 

Sect. III. — Of the Preface and Charge, and the several Im- 
pediments to Matrimony. 

To prevent the vain and loose mirth which is The preface, or 
too frequent at these solemnities, the office is general exhort- 
begun with a grave and awful preface, which re- atlon ' 
presents the action we are about, to be of so divine an origin- 
al, of so high a nature, and of such infinite concernment to all 
mankind, that they are not only vain and imprudent, but even 

29 Judges xiv. 20, according to the Alexandrian copy, .published by Dr. Grabe. 

30 Eucharist. Ep. ad Episc. Afric. Concil. torn. i. col. 513, C. Concil. Carthag. 4, cap. 
13, torn. ii. col. 1201, A. 31 De Invent. Rerum, 1. 1, c. 4, as cited by Selden in his 
Uxor Ebraica, page 20 5 . 32 Manual. Sarisb. fol. 26. Eucholog. Offic. Sponsal. p. 330. 

2 D 



402 OF THE FORM OF [chap, x, 

void of shame, who will not lay aside their levity, and be com- 
posed upon so serious and solemn an occasion. And to pre- 
vent any misfortune which the two parties might rashly or 
perhaps inconsiderately run into by means of their marriage, 
the Minister charges the congregation, If they know any just 
cause why they may not he lawfully joined together, that 
they do now declare it, before this holy bond be tied, since 
afterwards their discovering of it will tend perhaps more to 
the prejudice than to the relief of the parties. 

The charge tnou o n otners ar © first called Upon to 

discover the impediments (if any such be known) 
as being most likely to reveal them ; yet the parties them- 
selves are charged, in the next place, as being most concern- 
ed, to declare them. Since, should there afterwards appear 
any just impediment to their marriage, they must either ne- 
cessarily live together in a perpetual sin, or be separated for 
ever by an eternal divorce. Besides which, by a provincial 
canon of our Church under archbishop Stratford, in the year 
1342, (the sixteenth of Edward III.,) if the parties that marry 
are conscious of any impediment, they incur excommunica- 
tion ipso facto. 33 

III. The impediments which they are solemnly 
T t h o e ma?rhnray. tS charged to reveal, are those, I suppose, which 

are specified in the hundred and second canon 
of our Church; viz. 1. a preceding marriage or contract, or 
any controversy or suit depending upon the same; 2. consan- 
guinity or affinity ; and, 3. want of the consent of their pa- 
rents ox guardians. 

L a preceding §• The first is a preceding ma?*riage or con- 
maniage or con- tract : for God made but one wife for Adam, 
and rather connived at polygamy in after-ages 
than allowed it. Under the Gospel dispensation it is abso- 
lutely forbidden. 34 And this, I think, on one side, is gener- 
ally allowed. Nobody contends that the same woman may 
have plurality of husbands, and the New Testament is ex- 
pressly against it: 33 but then we have libertines enough 
(though libertines, by the way, that often think one wife too 
many) who pretend that there is no prohibition against se- 
veral ; and yet the New Testament, if we duly attend to it, is 
as full and as clear against this as the former. Our Saviour 



33 See Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 494, or in Mr. Johnson, 1343, 11. 31 Matt. 
xix. 5, 9. Rom.^ii. 3. 1 Cor. via. 2. 33 Rom. vii. 2, 3. 1 Cor. vii. 39. 



SECT. III.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



403 



himself has expressly declared, that whosoever shallput away 
his wife, arid shall many another, committeth adultery™ If 
then it be adultery for a man to marry a second woman, after 
he has put away the first, would it be ever the less adultery 
to marry a second whilst he retains the first ? Again, when 
St. Paul enjoins every man, for the avoiding fornication, to 
have his own wife, or (as the words ought to be translated) 
a wife of his ow?i, z ~ he also enjoins that every woman have 
her own husband, or (as these words ought also to be render- 
ed) a husband peculiar to herself™* So that polygamy is 
no more allowed to the husband than to the wife. And there- 
fore if either of the parties that offer themselves to be married 
have a husband or wife living, this latter marriage is null and 
void, and they live in as manifest adultery as they would have 
done, though they had not been joined. Nay, if either of 
them be but contracted to another, the impediment is the same. 
For though such a contract be not properly marriage, yet it is 
so effective and binding, that unless they voluntarily release 
each other, it is adultery for either of them to marry any body 
else. Hence by the Levitical law it was death for any one to de- 
file another man's spouse ; 41 and the holy Virgin is called Jo- 
seph's wife, though she was only contracted to him. 43 Upon this 
account, marriages that have been made after any such con- 
tract have always been judged null and void. In our own 
land indeed, in king Henry the Eighth's time, an Act of Par- 
liament was made, that marriages, when solemnized and after- 
wards consummated, should stand good notwithstanding any 
former precontract that had not been consummated. 43 But 
this was only done to gratify the king ; and therefore, as soon 
as king Edward VI. succeeded him, the aforesaid Act was re- 
pealed, and the ecclesiastical judges were again empowered to 
give sentence in favour of such precontract, and to require 

* The words in the original, are tKacrrn rov 'iSiov av5pa exerio, which any one that knows 
Greek will acknowledge to be imperfectly translated in our English Bibles. For as 
Dr. Wall 39 very well observes, when Aristotle says, 'idiov rovro to?? avtipw-nois, nobody 
would render it, Men have this of their own; but, This is proper or peculiar to men: 
so again when he says, 6 <5e fiaTpaxo? \5lav e'xet t>iv yXtoaaav,* it would not reach the 
sense to say, that frogs make their own noise, but that frogs make a noise peculiar to 
themselves ; i. e. such a noise as no other creatures make. When therefore St. Paul 
uses the same phrase here, which is so emphatical and express, our English translation 
does not come up to his meaning, when it only says, Let every woman have her own 
husband; since the words plainly signify, that every woman should have a husband 
that should be proper or peculiar to herself; a husband in such sense her own, as not 
to be the husband of any one else. 

36 Matt. xix. 9. Mark x. 11. Luke xvi. 18. 37 "Ekoo-to? t»/i/ eavrov yvvaiKa exerto. 
38 1 Cor. vii.2. 30 History of Infant Baptism, p. i. c. S, §. 5. *° Ibid. 4 * Deut. 
XX. 23, 24. « Matt. i. 20. « 32.Henry VIII. c. 3S. 

2 D 2 



404 



OF THE FORM OF 



[CHAP. X. 



that matrimony should be solemnized and consummated be- 
tween the persons so contracted, notwithstanding that one of 
them might have been actually married to, and have had issue 
by, another person. 44 But it hath been again enacted by statute 
26 G-eorge II., that for the future no suit shall be had in any ec- 
clesiastical court to compel a celebration of marriage in facie 
ecclesice, by reason of any contract of matrimony whatsoever. 

§. 2. The second impediment, which the canon 
2 " C o°r n affii5ty! llty specifies, is consanguinity or affinity, i. e. when 
the parties are related to each other within the 
degrees prohibited as to marriage by the laws of God, and ex- 
pressed in a table drawn up by archbishop Parker, and set 
forth by authority in the year of our Lord 1563. 45 This table 

What decrees lS 110W Ver y frequently printed at the end of Com- 
are expressly mon Prayer Books, and therefore I need not 

enumerate the degrees within which marriage is 
forbid. But however, it may not be amiss to observe, that 
several degrees are expressed in the table, which are not men- 
tioned particularly in the eighteenth of Leviticus, which is the 
And what by place upon which the table is founded. But then 
parity of reason, they may be inferred from it by parity of reason. 

For that passage in Leviticus only mentions those 
relations evidently and expressly, which may help us to dis- 
cover the like differences and degrees. So that for the right 
understanding of the eighteenth of Leviticus, and to bring it 
to an agreement with the table in our Common Prayer Books, 
we must observe two particular rules for our direction : viz. 
1. That the same prohibitions that are made to one sex are 
undoubtedly understood and implied as to the other; and, 2. 
That a man and his wife are accounted one flesh : (so that 
whoever is related to one of them by means of consanguinity 
is in the same degree related to the other by means of affinity 
insomuch that the husband is so much forbid to marry with 
his wife's relations, and the wife with her husband's, within 
the degrees prohibited, as either of them are to marry with 
their own.) Thus, for instance ; though marrying a wife's 
sister be not expressly forbid in the eighteenth of Leviticus, 
yet by parity of reason it is virtually implied. For when God 
there commands 46 that a man shall not marry his brothers 
wife, which is the same as forbidding the woman to be mar- 
ried to her husband's brother ; it follows of course, that a man 
is also forbid to marry his wife's sister. For between one man 

« 2 Edward VI. 43 Canon XCIX. *« Verse 16 



SECT, ill.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



405 



and two sisters, and one woman and two brothers, is the same 
analogy and proportion. Accordingly, this was always forbid 
under severe penalties by the primitive Church, 47 and has been 
declared unlawful by our own. 48 Thus again, though we are 
not forbid in terms to marry the daughter of a wife's sister ; 
yet, by the like parity of reason, the same is implied in the pro- 
hibition of marrying one's father's brother's wife, i9 which is the 
same as to forbid the being married to a husband's brother's son. 
For between a man and his wife's niece is the same relation 
as between a woman and her husband's nephew ; and there- 
fore these also have been declared incapable of marrying by 
our courts of judicature. 50 And if this be granted, it can much 
less be doubted, whether the like rule, from parity of reason, 
doth not forbid the uncle to marry his niece ; which, though 
not expressly forbidden, is to be sure virtually prohibited in 
the precept that forbids the nephew to marry his au?it. bl Nor 
is it of any moment to allege, that the first is a more favourable 
case, because the natural superiority is preserved ; since the 
parity of degree (which is the proper rule of judging) is the 
very same in both. 

Nor do these rules hold only in lawful mar- 
riages, but are equally binding in unlawful con- ^SuniLful 
junctions : for by the same law that a man may conjunctions, as 
notrfnarry his father's wife, he ought not to take S a g a J. ful mar " 
his father's concubine ; and as the woman may 
not be married to her daughter's husband, so neither may she 
be married to one by whom her daughter has been abused.™ 
Nor are bastard children any more at liberty to 
marry within the degrees of the Levitical law, ^ s ? a rf C hndren, 
than those that are legitimate. In this case legi- as between those 
timacy or illegitimacy makes no difference ; for x ^x™ Q legU1 
if it did, a mother might marry her bastard son, 
which is shocking to think of. 53 

The reasons why these prohibitions are made 
are easily to be accounted for : for, first, the mar- J^YrdiSoL 
riage of parents or grandfathers with their chil- 
dren or grandchildren (setting aside the disproportion in time 
of age) is directly repugnant to the order of nature, which 

v Can. Apostol. 18, et Concil. Elib. « See Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. page 
49S. See also the Canons of 1571, in Bishop Sparrow, page 240. 49 Verse 14. 

50 See Bishop Gibson, ibid. 51 Verse 12, 14. 52 See the Reformatio Legum, as 
cited by Bishop Gibson, page 499 . 53 See Bishop Gibson, ibid, and Bishop Parker's 
Admonition in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 2G0. 



406 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. x. 



hath assigned several duties and offices essential to each rela- 
tion, that would thereby be inverted and overthrown. To 
which we may add the inconsistency, absurdity, and mon- 
strousness of the relations to be begotten, if such prohibition 
were not absolute and unlimited. Much the same may be 
said in the next place, as to the marriage of uncles and aunts 
with their nephews and nieces. And, lastly, as to the mar- 
riage of brothers with sisters ; the natural familiarities be- 
tween equal relations, so suitable in years and temper, would 
produce intolerable effects in those who always converse to- 
gether, if they were not prohibited matrimonial union. Upon 
such marriages tnese accounts, even among heathens, these mar- 
why called in- riages were accounted unlawful and forbidden, 
cestuous. an( j were condemned under the name and title of 
incest, which signifies an inauspicious conjunction, made sine 
cesto Veneris, without the cest or girdle of Venus. For that 
goddess being not supposed to be present at such unchaste and 
dishonest marriages, the bride was not bound with her girdle 
as was usual, and therefore the marriage was called incestuous. ^ 
And by the ninety-sixth canon of our own Church, such mar- 
riages are also to be judged incestuous and unlawful, and con- 
sequently are to be dissolved as void from the beginning, and 
the parties so married are to be separated by course of law. 

From an observation of the above-mentioned passage in 
Scripture, as well as from the table at the end of our Common 
Prayer Books, we may perceive that it is only a vulgar mis- 
take, which some have entertained, that second 
hiMtedmarriage. cousins may not marry, though first cousins 
may ; it plainly appearing that no cousins what- 
soever, whether in the first, or second, or third descent, are 
prohibited marriage, either by the laws of God or of the land. 
The more ancient prohibition indeed of the Canon Law was 
to the seventh generation : and the same was formerly the 
law of the Church of England, as appears by the canons of 
two different Councils. 55 But in the fourth Council of Lateran, 
which was held A. D. 1215, the prohibition was reduced to 
the fourth degree, 56 as appears not only by a statute in the 
thirty-second of Henry VIII., 57 but also by the frequent dis- 
pensations for the fourth degree, (and no further.) which we 



54 Lactantius Statii Scholiastes ad 2 Thebaid. v. 283, ut citat. in Fabri Thesauro, in 
vocem Cestus. 55 Of London and Westminster, as cited by Bishop Gibson in his 
Codex p. 497. 5 g See Bishop Gibson as before. 57 Chap. 3S. 



SECT. III.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



407 



meet with in our ecclesiastical records, as granted by special 
authority from Rome. But now this was only for the increase 
and augmentation of the Pope's revenue, who always took care 
to be well paid for his licence or dispensation. And therefore, 
at the Reformation, when we got free from our bondage and 
subjection to him, no marriages were prohibited but within 
the third degree, which are expressly prohibited by the laws 
of God, as well as by the dictates of right reason, and which 
therefore no power or authority can dispense with. But now 
none that we call cousins are within the third degree of kin- 
dred; even fir 'St cousins, or cousin-germa?is,are four removes 
distant. For to know their relation we must reckon through 
the grandfather, the common parent, from whence both parties 
are descended. Now reckoning thus between the children of 
two brothers, or of two sisters, or of a brother and sister, we 
must necessarily measure four degrees. For from a man to 
his father or mother is one degree ; to his grandfather two ; 
then down to his uncle or aunt three; and, lastly, to the 
daughter of his uncle or aunt, who is his cousin-german, four. 
This is exemplified in the margin, where A is the 
grandfather, B and C the children, and D and E a 
the grandchildren or first cousins, who are dis- b c 
posed to marry. Now from D to B is one re- D £ 
move, to A a second, to C a third, and to E a 
fourth. And I have already observed, that there is no in- 
stance in the eighteenth of Leviticus of any prohibition in the 
fourth degree. It is to be noted indeed, as archbishop Parker 
tells us, 58 that marriages in the direct line, i. e. between 
children and their grandfathers, though ever so distant, are 
prohibited and forbid. For a father has a paternal right over 
ten generations, could he live to see them in a direct line, 
(his old age requiring respect and reverence, as often in- 
creased as the name of father comes between him and them.) 
And so uncles and aunts, since they are quasi parentes, in the 
place of fathers and mothers, must have the greater respect, 
by how much the name of uncle and aunt comes between 
them and their nephews and nieces. So that it would seem 
more absurd for a great uncle to marry his niece, than for an 
immediate uncle to marry his. Though we are told, that 
where the case in the spiritual court was, that one had married 
the wife of his great uncle, (which, by the foregoing rule, 

53 In Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 260. 



403 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. x. 



that makes the case the same in affinity as consanguinity, is 
as near a relation as a great aunt by blood,) it was declared 
not to be within the Levitical degrees, and therefore a prohi- 
bition was granted to the process. 59 

3. want of Pa- §• ^' ^e tmr d impediment to the solemniza- 
rents' or Guard- tion of marriage between the parties that offer 
ians' consent. themselves, is the want of the consent of their 
parents or guardians. But this by the hundredth canon 
seems only to be an impediment, when the persons to be 
married are under the age of twenty-one years complete, 
whom, by the sixty-second canon, no Minister is to marry, 
whether by banns or licence, before their parents or go- 
vernors have signified their consent, though persons in widow- 
hood are by the hundred and fourth canon particularly 
excepted. 60 The holy Scriptures, in several instances, inform 
us of this paternal right. 61 And the usual phrases of giving 
a daughter in marriage, and talcing a wife to a son, plainly 
imply, that the consent of the parents is necessary in the 
marriage of their children. If we inquire into the practice of 
the heathens, we shall find them so severe upon the violation 
of this right, as to declare the marriage to be null, and the 
children to be bastards. 62 And the ancient canon-law of the 
Greek Church accounts all children that marry without their 
parents' consent, whilst they are under their power, to be no 
better than fornicators. 63 The Church of England hath ever 
taken all imaginable care beforehand to prevent such mar- 
riages, by requiring the oaths of sufficient witnesses, in case 
of a licence, that such consent was obtained ; M and by the 
Act 26 George II. it is declared that all marriages solemnized 
by licence, where either of the parties, not being a icidower or 
widow, shall be under the age of twenty-one years, which shall 
be had without the consent of -parents or guardians, shall be 
absolutely null and void. And where there is no licence, the 
Church orders the publication of the banns, as has already 
been shewed, that so the parents may have notice and time to 
forbid it ; and now finally charges the parties themselves, in 
the most serious and solemn manner that is possible, that 
they confess it is an impediment, if they want their superiors' 
consent. 

5ri See Bishop Gibson's Codex, p. 409. c0 See also the Canons of 1597, in Sparrotr 
page 249. 61 Genesis xxiv. xxix. xxxiv. 4. Judges xiv. 2. 62 Apul. Metamorph 
1. (5, Dig. lib. 23, tit. 2, et lib. 1, tit. 5, §. 11. 63 S. Basil, ad Amphiloch. Can. 38, et 
40. Matth. Blaster. Svntag. Lit. T. c. S, apud Bevereg. torn. ii. M Canon CIII. 



SECT. IV.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



409 



The asking their 
mutual consent. 



IV. If any of the impediments above men- 
tioned are alleged, and the person that declares RubI c n ar<S the 
it will be bound and sufficient sureties with him 
to the parties, or else put in a caution (to the full value of such 
charges as the persons to be married do thereby sustain) to 
prove his allegation : then the solemnization must be deferrea 
until such time as the truth be tried. But if no impediment be 
alleged, the Curate is to proceed in manner and form as the 
next section will declare. 

Sect. IY. — Of the Espousals. 

I. The solemnization of matrimony being a 
formal compact, it is requisite, in the first place, 
that the mutual consent of the parties be asked, 
which is so essentially necessary, that the marriage is not 
good without it. And therefore we find that Eebekah's friends 
asked her consent before they sent her away to Isaac. 65 And 
in the firmest kind of marriage among the Romans, which 
they called coemption, the parties themselves mutually asked 
this of each other. 66 This therefore being so momentous a 
custom, is for that reason taken into the Christian offices : 
only among Christians the question is proposed by the Priest, 
that so the declaration may be the more solemn, as being 
made in the immediate presence of God, and to his deputed 
Minister. 

The man therefore is asked, Whether he mill have this 
woman to his wedded wife ; and the woman, Whether she 
will have this man to her wedded husband, to live together 
after God's ordinance in the holy state of matrimony. And 
that they may the better know what are the conditions of this 
state, the Minister enumerates the duties which each of them 
by this covenant will be bound to perform. 

§. 2. The man, for instance, is obliged, in the 
first place, to love his wife, which is the principal The 5Sty. and s 
duty required by St. Paul, 67 and is here men- 
tioned first, because if the man hath this affection, he will 
perform with delight all the other duties ; it being no burden 
to do good offices to those whom we heartily and sincerely 
love. 2. He must comfort her, which is the same that St. 
Paul expresses by cherishing^ and implies here, that the hus- 
band must support his wife under all the infirmities and sor- 

65 Gen. xxiv. 58. 65 Boeth. Comment, in Topic. Ciceron. p. 157. Venet. 15S3. Alex, 
ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 5. " Ephes. v. 25. en Ephes. v. 29. 



410 



OF THE FORM OF 



[CHAP. 5. 



rows, to which the tenderness of her sex often makes her 
liable. 3. He is to honour her, which is also directly com- 
manded by St. Peter : 69 for though the wife, as he says, be 
the weaker vessel, yet she must not be despised, for those un- 
avoidable weaknesses which God has been pleased to annex 
to her constitution, but rather respected for her usefulness to 
the man's comfortable being.* 4. He must keep her in sick- 
ness and health, which in St. Paul's phrase is to nourish™ or 
to afford her all necessaries in every condition. Lastly, he 
must consent to be faithful to her, and forsaking all other, 
keep himself only to her so long as they both shall Ike 71 
which is added to prevent those three mischievous and fatal 
destroyers of marriage, adultery, polygamy, and divorce. 

§.3. There is no difference in the duties, nor 
The -nifes duty. conse q Uen ^]y j n the terms of the covenant be- 
tween a man and his wife ; except that the woman is obliged 
to obey and serve her husband. Nor is this a difference of 
our own devising, but is expressly ordered by God himself, 
who, in those places of Scripture where he enjoins husbands 
to love their wives, commands the wives to be subject and 
obedient to their husbands. 72 The rules also of society make 
it necessary ; for equality, saith St. Chrysostom, 73 breeds con- 
tention, and one of the two must be superior, or else both 
would strive perpetually for the dominion. Wherefore the 
laws of God, and the wisdom of all nations, hath given the 
superiority to the husband. Among the Romans, the wife 
was obliged by law to be subject to her husband, and to call 
him lord ; u but then they had a peculiar magistrate to take 
care that the men did not abuse this power, but that they 
should rule over their wives with gentleness and tenderness. 75 
Wherefore women may and ought to pay all that obedience 
which the Gospel requires of them : nor have they any reason 
(especially with us) to complain with Medea, that they are 
sold for slaves with their own money™ because there is really 
no slavery in obedience which springs from love, and is paid 

* If the Greek of this verse was differently pointed, the foundation of the "honour" 
to be given unto the " wives " would not be their weakness, but their being coheirs with 
their husbands of "the grace of life;" which seems to make the Apostle's meaning 
clearer. " Likewise ye husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge, the 
female being the weaker vessel, giving them honour, as being heirs together of the 
grace of life." 

69 1 Peter iii. 7. 70 Ephes. v. 29. « Mai. ii. 15, 16. 1 Cor. vii. 10. 72 Ephes. 
V. 22, 24. Col. iii. IS. Tit. ii. 5. 1 Peter iii. 1,5. "^Inl Cor. xi. 3. 74 Ulpian. L. 
alia 14, D. solut. Matrimon. Et L. ea quae 57, D. de Donat. inter Virum et TJx. iten> 
que Servius ad 1. 4, Mneid. 75 Cicero de E.epub. lib. 4. ™ Eurip. in Medea. 



SECT. IV.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



411 



in respect to the nobler sex, and in requital for that protec- 
tion which the weaker sex both needs and enjoys in the state 
of matrimony. So that it is not only an impious contempt of 
divine authority, but egregious pride and folly, for any woman 
to refuse either to promise or pay this obedience ; which is 
her chief advantage, if she hath wisdom to understand, or 
skill to manage it right. 

§. 4. The whole matter being thus proposed 
to each party, they should each of them seriously T Jh e a partles. of 
weigh and consider it. And if they like this state 
of life, and the duties annexed to it ; if they neither of them 
ave any objection against the person of the other, but are 
persuaded they can each of them love the other, and that for 
ever, in all conditions of life ; let each of them answer as the 
Church directs them, / will ; which are the proper words that 
oblige in compacts, 77 but which can never lay a more solemn 
obligation than when they are pronounced upon this occasion. 
Eor if we start back after speaking them here, we shall have 
as many witnesses of the falsehood, as there are persons pre- 
sent at the solemnity, viz. God and his angels, the Minister 
and the congregation : and therefore in regard to so venerable 
an assembly, let them here be pronounced with all deliberate 
gravity, and for ever made good with all possible sincerity. 

§. 5. This solemn declaration of the parties' EspousalSj what 
consent seems to be the remains of the old form they were for- 
of Espousals, which was different and distinct merl y- 
from the office of Marriage, and which was often performed 
some weeks, or months, or perhaps years before; 78 and, as 
Elorentinus defines them, were no more than the promise of 
future marriage ,- 79 which however they thought was not pro- 
per to be left to be made in private, as a mere civil contract ; 
and therefore they ordered that it should be solemnly made 
in the presence of a Minister, who should use prayers and 
blessings suitable to the occasion. And hence it is that, in 
the Greek Church, there are to be seen to this day two dif- 
ferent offices, viz. the one of Espousals, and the other of 
Marriage^ But it oftentimes happening that the deferring 
the marriage caused the parties espoused to break their en- 
gagement, Leo Philosophus, an emperor of the East, com- 
manded by an edict, that the Espousals and Marriage should 

77 Justinian. Institut. 1. 3, de Verb. Oblig. Tit. 16. 78 Carol. Mag. Leg. 1. 1, c. 163. 
?f Florentin. 1. 1, D. de Sponsal. so vide Euchologion. 



412 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. x. 



be both performed on the same day. 81 Some attempts indeed 
were made by Alexius Comnenus to restore the old custom 
of having some time intervene between them. 82 But it does 
not appear that he succeeded in his attempts ; for Goar tells 
us, (and the present Greek rubric hints as much, S3 ) that the 
usual custom of the modern Greeks is to use both offices at 
the same time. And it is probable that in the West, as well 
as in the East, the custom of celebrating the Espousals and 
Nuptials at the same time did long obtain, and at last occasion 
both offices to be united in one. So that this declaration is 
the remains of the ancient office of the Espousals, and the 
following stipulation the Marriage properly so called. Ac- 
cordingly the declaration is made in the future 
A pii?d°now. P " tense, by which Espousals used to be made ; 84 
whereas the stipulation runs in the present tense, 
which is necessary to make and confirm a marriage. 85 Besides, 
the declaration is made without any ceremony, simply and 
directly like the ancient Espousals; 86 whereas the mutual 
stipulation is accompanied with divers significant rites, such 
as the delivering the woman into the hands of the man, joining 
their hands, and the like, which are the known and proper 
ceremonies of marriage. And indeed that the declaration is 
not properly a circumstance of the marriage, is plain from the 
Minister's asking, after it is made, Who giveth the woman to 
be married to the man? For that evidently implies that she 
is even yet in the power of another, and consequently that 
she is still to be married to the man. 

Sect. V. — Of the Solemnization of the Marriage. 

The soiemniza- The two P ar ties having now declared their 

tion of the mar- consent to take each other for husband and wife, 
riage ' and having solemnly engaged that they will each 

of them observe the duties which God has annexed to that 
state ; they proceed, in the next place, to the immediate cele- 
bration of the Marriage itself, which is introduced with a very 
The father or ancient and significant ceremony; I mean, the 
friend to give the father's or friend' s giving the woman in mar- 
woman. riage. The antiquity of which rite is evident from 

81 Leo Philos. Imp. Novel. 74. 82 Alex. Comnen. Novel, de Sponsal. 1. 2, Jur. 
■Orient. 83 ftovXovTai ev t' airy aTecpaiKoOrivat. Rubric, ante Oific. Coronat. 

Eucholog. p. 385. 61 Decret. Greg. 1. 4, de Sponsal. et Matrimon. tit. 1, c. 15. Pet. 
Lombard. 1. 4, dist. 28 . 85 Constit. Richard. Ep. Sarum. apud Spelman. Concil. 

torn. ii. A. I). 1217. 8 <5 Franc. Hotmail, de Sponsal. p. 375. 



SECT. V.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



413 



the phrase so often used in Scripture, of giving a daughter 
to wife : 87 and the universality of it appears from its being 
used both by heathens and Christians in all ages. 88 The 
foundation of the practice seems to be a care of the female 
sex, who are always supposed to be under the tuition of a 
father or guardian, whose consent is necessary to make their 
acts valid. 89 And therefore before the Minister proceeds to 
the Marriage, he asks, Who gives the woman to be married 
to the man ? Which shews too, by the way, that the woman 
does not seek a husband, but is given to one by her parents 
or friends, whose commands in this affair she seems rather to 
follow than her own inclinations. 90 For which cause, among 
the nuptial rites of the old Romans, the bride was to be taken 
by a kind of violence from her mother's knees ; 91 and when she 
came to her husband's house, she was not to go in willingly, 
but was to be carried in by force ; 92 which, like this ceremony 
of ours, very well suited with the modesty of her sex. 

§. 2. But besides this, there is a further mean- 
ing intended by the Church : for it is to be ob- 
served, that the woman is to be given not to the 
man but to the Minister ; for the rubric orders, that the 
Minister shall receive her at her father's or friend's hands ; 
which signifies, to be sure, that the father resigns her up to 
God, and that it is God who, by his Priest, now gives her in 
marriage, and who provides a wife for the man, as he did at 
first for Adam. 93 

II. Accordingly the Minister, who has now the Joinino . of r5gnt 
disposal of her, delivers her into the possession hands an ancient 
of the man, as he afterwards does the man into ceremon y- 
the possession of the woman, by causing each of them to take 
the other by the right hand. The joining of 'hands naturally 
signifies contracting a friendship, and making a covenant : 94 
and the right hand especially was esteemed so sacred, that 
Cicero calls it the witness of our faith,- 95 and therefore the 
joining of these being used in all covenants, no wonder it 
should be observed in the solemn one of marriage. Accord- 

87 Gen. xxix. 19. xxxiv. 16. Josh. xv. 16. 1 Sam. xvii. 25. xviii. 1* Psal. lxxviii. 
63. Luke xvii. 27. 1 Cor. vii. 38. 83 cic. Orat. pro Flac. Apul. Apol. 2. Praescr. Aug. 
de Genes, ad lit. 1. 11, c. 41, tom. iii. par. 1, col. 295, C 89 See Hooker's Ecclesi- 
astical Polity, 1.5, §. 73. 9 » Ambros. de Abraham. 1. 1, c. 9, tom. i. col. 201, 1. 
91 Virg. JEneid. 10, ver. 79. 9:2 Plut. Quaest. Rom. tom. ii. p. 271, C D. Francof. 
1620. 93 Genesis ii. 23. 2 Kings x. 15. Prov. xi. 21. 95 Dextraequae fidei 
testes esse solebant. Cicero. See also Virgil. En. dextra, fidesque. See also Alex, ab 
Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 19. 



414 



OF THE FORM OF 



[CHAP. X. 



ingly we find it has been used, upon this occasion, by Hea- 
thens, 96 Jews, 97 and Christians in all ages. 93 

III. The Minister therefore having thus join - 

The P ura«on. Sti " ed tlleir ri § ht nands > causes them, in the next 
place, to give their troth, by a mutual stipulation. 
And as our lawyers tell us, that in a deed of conveyance four 
things are necessary, viz. 1. The Premises, containing the 
names of the person, and of the thing to be conveyed ; 2. The 
Habendum and Tenendum ; 3. The Limitations ; and, 4. The 
Sealing .-" so here the compact seems to be drawn up ex- 
actly answerable to these four rules. For, first, each party 
name themselves, and specifying the other, as the individual 
person whom they have chose, declare the end for which they 
take, viz. to he wedded husband and wife. Secondly, The 
manner of taking is expressed in those ancient words, to have 
€i?id to hold, which are words (saith Littleton) 100 of such im- 
portance, that no conveyance can be made without them : 
and therefore they ought not to be omitted here, because the 
man and the woman are now to put themselves into the power 
and possession of each other : insomuch that after this stipu- 
lation the wife hath not power of her own body, but the hus- 
band ; and likewise the husband hath not power of his own 
body, but the wife. 1 Thirdly, the time of entering upon, and 
the time of enjoying, the possession conveyed, is here ex- 
pressly declared. It is to begin immediately from the nup- 
tial day, and to continue during their mutual lives, From this 
day forward — till death us do part. And lest any incon- 
veniences appearing afterwards should be alleged for the break- 
ing this sacred contract, here is added a protestation, that the 
obligation shall continue in full force, notwithstanding any fu- 
ture unexpected changes. They are to have and to hold for 
better for worse, in respect of their mind and manners ; for 
richer for poorer, in respect of their estate ; and whether in 
sickness or in health, in respect of their body. Now all these 
are added to prevent the scandalous liberties of divorce, which 
was practised upon every trifling occasion among Jews and 
Bomans : 2 insomuch that one of their rabbies had impiously 
affirmed it to be sufficient for divorce, if another woman was 

9S Alex, ab Alex. 1. 2, c. 5. Xenopbon. Cvropaed. 1. 8. Servius in Virgil. JEn. 4. ver. 
104. 97 Tobit vii. 13. 93 Greg. Naz. Ep. 57, ad Anys. 99 Lord Coke on Little- 
ton's Tenures, c. 1. 100 A aver et tener, Littl. c. 1, p. 1. Lord Coke on Littleton's 
Tenures, c. 1. i 1 Cor. vii. 4. 2 Matt. xix. 3. 



SECT. V.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



415 



better liked oy the man. 3 But this being so contrary to the 
nature of marriage, it is necessary it should be removed from 
all Christian societies : which cannot be more effectually done 
than by a particular recital at the time of marriage, of all the 
cases which may be pretended as the causes of a future dis- 
like. And to prevent any objection, I suppose, that might 
afterwards be imagined from either party's declining in their 
comeliness or beauty, the York Manual, that was used in the 
northern parts of England before the Keformation, had an ad- 
dition of the words, for fairer for fouler, (for it must be ob- 
served, that this mutual stipulation was always in English 
amongst our English papists, even when all the office besides 
was in Latin,) which Mr. Selden translates, sive pulchrior 
faeris, sive invenustior .- 4 i.e. whether thou shalt be more 
or less handsome or comely. In all these conditions the en- 
gagement is the same, viz. the man is to love and to clierish 
his wife, and the woman to love, cherish, and to obey her 
husband ; i. e. each of them must have the same regard for 
the other, and pa}*- those duties which I have already shewed 
to be necessary and indispensable, whatsoever accidental va- 
rieties may happen. In the old Salisbury Manual, (that was 
used in the southern parts of England in the times of popery, 
as I have observed the York Manual was in the northern,) in- 
stead of the woman's stipulating to love, cherish, and to obey 
her husband, she engaged to be bonair and buxum in bedde 
and at horde: and so in the York Manual the Minister, in 
asking the woman's consent, instead of demanding of her, 
whether she would serve and obey her husband, asked her, 
whether she would be buxum to him. From whence we 
may observe, that whatever meaning those words have been 
perverted to since, they originally signified no more than to 
be meek and obedient. Accordingly, meek and obedient are 
added in the margin of the Manual, to explain them ; and so 
they are interpreted in the Saxon dictionaries, agreeably to 
which they are translated by Mr. Selden, Ero officiosa ac 
obediens. 5 But to return to our present form : the next par- 
ticular is the rule by which the compact is made, viz. accord- 
ing to God's holy ordinance. The words before the Reform- 
ation were, if holy Church it vooll ordaine, 6 i. e. I suppose, if 

3 Rabbi Akiba, as cited by Dr. Comber on the Common Prayer, folio edition, p. 667 
* Seld. Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 197. & Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 194. 

6 See the old Manuals, and Selden, ut supra, p. 194. 



416 



OF THE FORM OF 



[CHA?. X. 



there be no ecclesiastical law to the contrary. But I think 
the modern words are better : which may either be referred 
to every part of the present stipulation, so as to imply that all 
the branches thereof are agreeable to the divine institution ; 
or else they may be peculiarly applied to the two last clauses, 
that each of the parties will love and cherish, &c. the other 
till death part tliem ; which, I have shewed, is according to 
the ordinance of God. Lastly, here is the ratification of all 
the former particulars in the ancient form, and thereto I plight, 
(as the man says :) or, (as the woman,) I give thee my troth ; 
i. e. for the performance of all that has been said, each of 
them lays their faith or truth to pledge : as much as if they 
had said, If I perform not the covenant I have made, let me 
forfeit my credit, and never be counted just, or honest, or 
faithful more. 

The ring the re- IV - But Des ^ es tne invisible pledge of our 
mains of the old fidelity, the man is also obliged to deliver a visi- 
coemption. ^ e pledge : which the rubric directs shall be a 
ring ; which, by the first Common Prayer Book of king Ed- 
ward VI., was to be accompanied with other tokens of 'spousage, 
as gold or silver. This lets us into the meaning and design 
of the ring, and intimates it to be the remains of an ancient 
custom, whereby it was usual for the man to purchase the 
woman, laying down for the price of her a certain sum of 
money, 7 or else performing certain articles or conditions, 
which the father of the damsel would accept of as an equiva- 
lent. 8 Among the Romans this was called coemption or pur- 
chasing, and was accounted the firmest kind of marriage which 
they had ; and from them was delivered down amongst the 
western Christians, by whom the custom is still preserved in 
the ring ; 9 which is given as a pledge, or in part of payment of 
the dowry that the woman is to be entitled to by the marriage ; 
and by the acceptance of which the woman, at the same time, 
declares herself content, and in return espouses or makes 
over herself to the man. Accordingly in the old Manual for 
the use of Salisbury, before the Minister proceeds to the mar- 
riage, he is directed to ask the woman's dowry, viz. the tokens 
of spousage : and by these tokens of spousage are to be under- 
stood rings, or money, or so?)ie other things to be given to the 
woman by the man; which said giving is called subarration, 

" Gen. xxxiv. 12. Exod. xxii. 17. Deut. xxii. 29. 6 Gen. xxix. 18,2", 30. 1 Sain, 
xvii. 25. and chap, xviii. 17, 25. 9 Selden. Uxor. Ebraic. 1.2, c. 25, page 1S3, 1S4. 



SECT. V.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



417 



(i. e. wedding or covenanting,) especially when it is clone by 
the giving of a ring. 

The reason why a ring was pitched upon for W hy a ring ra- 
the pledge, rather than any thing else, I suppose, therthan any 
was, because anciently the ring was a seal, by thin s else - 
which all orders were signed, and things of value secured ; 10 
and therefore the delivery of it was a sign that the person, to 
whom it was given, was admitted into the highest friendship 
and trust. 11 For which reason it was adopted as a ceremony 
in marriage, to denote that the wife, in consideration of her 
being espoused to the man, was admitted as a sharer in her 
husband's counsels, and a joint partner in his honour and 
estate : and therefore we find that not only the ring, but the 
keys also were in former times delivered to her at the mar- 
riage. 12 That the ring was in use amongst the old Romans, we 
have several undoubted testimonies. 13 And that the use of it 
was not owing to any superstition amongst them, we have the 
authority of Tertullian, a very ancient Father of the Christian 
Church. 14 Pliny indeed tells us, that in his time the Romans 
used an iron ring, without any jewel: 15 but Tertullian hints, 
that in the former ages it was a ring of gold ,- 1G 
which being the nobler and purer metal, and con- ^ hy a sold onc ' 
tinuing longer uncorrupted, was thought to intimate the gener- 
ous, sincere, and durable affection which ought to be between 
the married parties. 17 As to the form of it, be- 
ing round (which was the most perfect of all Jg^^J 
figures, and was used by the ancients as the hie- 
roglyphic of eternity) was understood to imply, that the con- 
jugal love should never have an end. 18 

But these seem only allegorical significations ; 
the use of it, we have seen, was instituted at first universairfte d 
to imply something more ; viz. that the woman, 
in consideration of a certain dowry contracted for by the man, 
of which the ring is delivered as an earnest and pledge, 
espouses and makes over herself to him as his wife. With this 
signification it has been used by Christians in all ages, and all 
parts of the Church : 10 and for the same intent it is prescribed 

10 Gen. xxxviii. 18. Esther iii. 10, 12. 1 Maccab. vi. 15. « Gen. xli. 42. 
' w Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nuptiar. c. 25. « Juvenal. Sat. vi. ver. 2G, 27. 

Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. 3, c. 1. Tertull. Apol. c. 6, p. 7, A. i* De Idol. c. 16. 1 5 Plin. 
ut supra. i° Apol. c. 6, page 7, A. " Sealig. Poet. 1. 3, c. 100. 13 Scalig. ib. 
Isid. de Divin. Offic. 1. 2, c. 15. Vide et Rationalia Divin. Offic. 19 Clem. Alex. 
Psedag. 1. 3, c. 11, p. 245, C Ambr. 1. 14, Ep. 34. Isidor. Hyspal. Etymol. 1. 19, c. 32 
p. 268, et de Offic. Eccl. 1. 2, c. 19, p. 608, col. 2, C et D. 

2 E 



418 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. X 



by our own, as is evident from the words which are spoken at 
the delivery of it, and from the prayer which follows immedi- 
ately after : where the giving and receiving it is called a token 
and pledge of the vow and covenant betwixt them made. The 
same is practised by the modern Jews, 20 who it is not likely 
would have taken up the custom in imitation of the Christians, 
and who therefore probably received it from their forefathers. 
Good reason therefore had our judicious reformers to retain 
a rite so ancient and universal, and which even Bucer himself 
(who, one would think, was as scrupulous as any man need 
to be) thought fit to approve of as decent and proper. 21 

§. 2. Before the ring may be given to the 
W theb 1 ook P ° n woman > tne man must lay it upon the book, with 
the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk. 
And the Priest taking the ring shall deliver it unto the man, 
intimating, to be sure, that it is our duty to offer up all we 
have to God as the true proprietor, before we use them our- 
selves ; and to receive them as from his hand, to be employed 
towards his glory. 

§. 3. When the man espouses his wife with 
SfounhTSger ne i s put it upon the fourth finger of her 
kfth^nd man S ft hand. The reason of this, the rubric of the 
Salisbury Manual says, is because from thence 
there proceeds a particular vein to the heart. This indeed is 
now contradicted by experience : but several eminent authors, 
as well Gentiles as Christians, as well physicians as divines, 
were formerly of this opinion ; and therefore they thought 
this finger the properest to bear this pledge of love, that from 
thence it might be conveyed, as it were, to the heart. 22 How- 
ever, the moral may safely be retained, viz. that the husband 
hereby expresses the dearest love to his spouse, which ought 
to reach her heart, and engage her affections to him again. 
If we should add the other reason of placing the ring upon 
this finger, viz. its being the least active finger of the hand 
least used, upon which therefore the ring may be always in 
view, and yet least subject to be worn out ; this also may 
teach us, that the two parties should carefully cherish each 
other's love, that so it may endure and last for ever. 

2 " Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, c. 39, p. 633, and Ockley's History of the present Jews, p, 
170, 171. 21 Bucer: Censur. p. 488. & Alex, ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 19. Ap- 
pian. in lib. Egypt, et ex eo. Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. 1. 10, c. 10. Isidor. Hyspal. in 
locis supra citatis, Durand. Rational. 1. 3, c. 14. Atreius Capit. in Macrob. Saturn. 
1. 7, c. 13. Levinus Lemn. et Forrestus ap. Brown. 



SECT. V.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



419 



§. 4. The man holding the ring therefore 
upon this finger, being taught by the Priest, and Th pSed. ex ~ 
speaking to his wife, he assures her, that this is 
a visible pledge that he now takes her to his wedded wife : 
With this ring I thee wed, or make a covenant 
with thee, (for so the word signifies, 23 ) that all ^eewed" f 1 
the rights and privileges of a lawful wife do from 
this instant belong to thee. After these words, in the first 
book of king Edward VI. followed, TJiis gold and silver I 
thee give ; at the repeating of which words it was customary 
to give the woman a purse of money, as livery and seisin of 
their estate : but this was left out of the second book, pro- 
bably because it was more than some people could perform. 
Besides, by what has been said, it appears that the design of 
it is fully enough answered by the delivery of the ring. 

The man therefore having wedded her with 
the ring, in the next words proceeds to assign woreM^* 1 
over the rights accruing to her thereby. The 
first of these is honour, and therefore he immediately adds, 
With my body I thee worship „• i. e. with my body I thee 
Iwnour ; for so the word signifies in this place ; and so Mr. 
Selden, 24 and before him Martin Bucer, 25 who lived at the 
time when our Liturgy was compiled, have translated it. The 
design of it is to express that the woman, by virtue of this 
marriage, has a share in all the titles and honours which are 
•due or belong to the person of her husband. 26 It is true the 
modern sense of the word is somewhat different : for which 
reason I find that at the review of our Liturgy, after the re- 
storation of king Charles II., worship was promised to be 
changed for honour? 1 How the alteration came to be omitted 
I cannot discover : but so long as the old word is explained 
in the sense that I have given of it, one would think no ob- 
jection could be urged against the using it. 

But to proceed : the second right accruing to And with ^ my 
the wife by virtue of her marriage is mainten- worldly goods i" 
ance ; and therefore the husband adds in the thee endow ' 
next place, With all niy worldly goods I thee endow. And 
those that retain the old custom of giving the woman gold 
and silver, take the opportunity of these words to deliver to 

23 See the Saxon dictionaries. 24 Corporemeo te dignor. Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2,"c. 27, 
p. 206. 25 Cum meo corpore te honoro. Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 443. 

83 Hooker's Ecclesiast. Polity, 1. 5, §. 73. W See the Papers that passed between 
the Commissioners, &c, page ult. 

2 E 2 



420 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap, x, 



her a purse. But I have shewed that formerly other words 
were provided for the doing of this : and the design of the 
words I am now speaking of is not so much to invest the 
woman with a right to all her husband's goods, as to declare 
that by marriage she has acquired such right. For from the 
very instant of their making the mutual stipulation, the wo- 
man has a right to sue for a maintenance during the life of her 
husband, should he be so brutish as to deny it; and after his 
decease, is entitled to a third, or perhaps a larger share (ac- 
cording to the laws of the place where she lives) in all her 
husband's goods and chattels, and may further demand what 
the law calls her quarentine, which is lodging and mainten- 
ance in his best mansion-house for forty days after his death. 28 
Nor is this either a new or an unreasonable privilege ; for it 
was a law of Romulus, the first king of the Romans, that the 
wedded wife who was married to a man according to the 
sacred laws, was to have all that he had in common with him- 
self. 29 And the same is affirmed long after by Cicero, viz. 
that they ought to have one house, and all things common. 30 
For this reason the Roman laws would not allow of donations 
to be made between a man and his wife, because they were to 
enjoy their estates in common ; 31 which community of goods 
they also expressed by offering the wife jftn? and water at her 
first coming into her husband's house, and by that usual ex- 
pression, Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia, Where you are master, I 
am mistress. 32 Nor did this only continue during his life : for 
the laws of Rome appointed the wife to be the sole heir, when 
her husband died without issue ; and if he left children, she 
was at least to have a child's part, and to be reckoned as a 
daughter. 33 Only it is to be noted, that during the husband's 
life, the wife has no power to alienate or dispose of any thing 
without her husband's consent, but only to enjoy and use it as 
there is occasion. The same privileges undoubtedly belong 
to the wives of Christians ; and indeed reason determines very 
strongly on their side. The woman assigns all that she is 
possessed of to her husband at the marriage ; and what less 
can the man do in return of such kindness, and in compens- 
ation for what he enjoys by her, than invest her with the en- 
joyment of what is his ? Even the barbarous Gauls were used 

88 Seidell, Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 202. Dion. Halicarn. 1. 2. 3" Offic. 1. 1 . 
* i Plut. L. de Praecept. Connub. 32 Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nupt. c. 18. » Dion 
Halicarn. 1. 2. Ulpian. Fragm. tit. 22, §. sui Haeredes. Aul. Gel. 1. 18, c. 6. 



ECT. V.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



421 



to give as much out of their own estates as they received in 
portion with their wives, and out of those two sums to make 
provision for the woman, if she survived the man. 34 And 
surely Christians should not come behind the heathens in such 
reasonable duties, it being unjust and unworthy to suffer any 
person to sustain damage by their kindness, where we are able 
to requite them. 

But to conclude : the last part of these words, 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the*Fathe™ 
of the Holy Ghost, Amen, are a solemn confirm- 
ation of the engagement here made, being an invocation of the 
sacred Trinity as witness to this compact, who will therefore 
undoubtedly revenge the perjury on those who break it. 

V. And now the covenant beinar finished, it is 

. -.it. ?, • • The prayer . 

very requisite we should desire a blessing on it ; 
for even the heathens looked upon their marriage-covenant as 
inauspicious, if it were not accompanied with a sacrifice. 35 And 
therefore Christians sure can do no less than call upon the di- 
vine Majesty upon the like Occasion. For this reason, the 
man leaving the ring upon the fourth finger of the woman's 
left hand, and both of them kneeling down, the Minister begs 
for them the blessing of God, that they may always perforin 
and keep the covenant which they have now been making.* 

VI. And as it was an ancient custom among The ratification 
the Romans, and other heathens, for masters to 

ratify the marriages of their servants ; so, since we profess to 
be the servants of God, it is necessary that he should confirm 
our contract. To which end the Priest, who is his representa- 
tive,^^'??^ the right hands of the married persons together, 
declares, in the words of our blessed Lord, 35 that they are 
joined by God, and that therefore no human power can 
separate them : those whom God hath joined together, let no 
man put asunder. 

VII. And now the holy covenant being firmly 

made, it ought to be duly published and pro- The P ubllcatlon - 
claimed : and therefore the Minister, in the next place, speak- 
ing unto the people, and recapitulating all that has been done 
between them, makes proclamation that the marriage is legal 

* In this prayer, as it stood in king Edward's first Liturgy, there was a parenthesis, 
T suppose alluding to the ring, which was afterwards left out, viz. " That as Isaac and 
'tebekah (after bracelets and jewels of gold given of the one to the other for tokens of 
i heir matrimony) lived faithfully together ; so these persons," &c. 

:!t Caesar, de Bell. Gallic, lib. 6. 3i Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nupt. c. 29, apud 
C< rrevii Thesaur. Antiq. Roman, torn. viii. col. 1141, C. 36 Matt. xix. 6. 



422 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap, X. 



and valid, and pronounces that they be man and wife toge- 
ther, in the name, and by the authority, of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

Thebiessin* "VIII. With a blessing from whom, this part 
e essmg. Q £ omce i s m the next place concluded. For 
the covenant being made by the authority of God, the institu- 
tion being his, the method his, and he being the author, wit- 
ness, and ratifier of this contract ; what could be added more 
properly at the conclusion, than a solemn benediction from 
that holy, blessed, and undivided Trinity, who is so many 
ways engaged to bless it ? 

Sect. VI. — Of the Introits, or Psalms. 

The marriage-covenant being now completed, 
W Lord"s S t°abie the the Minister and clerks (of whom I have taken 
occasion to speak before 37 ) are to go to the 
Lord's table. For by all the Common Prayer Books till the 
last review, the new-married persons were obliged to receive 
the holy Communion the same day of their marriage. 38 Our 
present rubric indeed does not insist upon this ; for what rea- 
son it does not, I shall shew by and by. 39 But it still declares 
it is convenient they should do so ; and therefore, that they 
may not omit it for want of being reminded, they are ordered 
to accompany the Minister and the clerks to the Lord's table. 

§. 2. And whilst they are going, either the 
be sSdwhibt t0 Minister or clerks are to say or sing a proper 
LOTdVtaiie psalm, which was appointed, I suppose, instead 
e " of the introit, which, I have already shewed, 40 
was a psalm some way or other proper to the day, and said or 
sung whilst the Priest was going to the altar. 

§. 3. And it is certain that psalms are very fit 
thTsoHnity? to 'attend, a marriage solemnity, which was ever 
reputed a time of joy, and generally attended 
with songs and music. Solomon's spouse was brought to 
him with joy and gladness ; 41 and in the nuptials of the Gen- 
tiles, nothing was more usual than minstrels and musical in- 
struments, songs to Hymen, Epithalamiums, and Fescennine 
verses. 42 But these being expressions of a looser mirth than 
becometh Christians, the Church hath hallowed our joy, by 
choosing holy psalms for the exercise and expression of it, in 

37 See pages 153, 154. 38 See the Rubric at the end of the office, in the old Com- 
mon Prayer Books. 39 In the last section. 40 Page 204. 41 Psalm xlv. 15, 16- 
42 Terent. Adelph. act. 5, seen. 7. Vide et Brisson. de Ritu Nuptiar. p. 83, et p. 90, 9h 



SECT. VII.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



423 



obedience to the precept of the Apostle St. James, who, when 
we are merry, bids us sing psalms . 43 

§. 4. There are two appointed in this place for p , almcxxvi i 
variety: but the first is generally used, as being sa CXXM1 - 
more proper for the occasion, being thought by some to have 
been drawn up for an Epithalamium or marriage song, 44 and 
for that reason taken into the marriage office by all Christians 
in the world. 45 

§. 5. The other is proper to be used some- 
times, when the age of the parties perhaps, not sa VU1 ' 
giving a prospect of the blessings mentioned in the foregoing- 
psalm, renders that not so suitable to the occasion. 

Sect. VII. — Of the Supplications and Prayers to be used at 
the Lord's Table. 

I. The Minister being got into the choir, and 

the man and the woman kneeling before the ^ndrSponsS* 
Lord's table, the Priest, before he proceeds to 
the office for the Communion, (which I have already hinted 
was the design of their coming hither,) offers up some fur- 
ther prayers and supplications for a blessing upon the parties. 
These are introduced with the ancient form, Lord have mercy 
upon us, &c. To which is immediately subjoined the Lord's 
Prayer, which sanctifies and makes way for all the rest. And 
being thus prepared, we proceed to some supplications chosen 
out of the Psalms, 46 and put into the form of versicles and re- 
sponses, that all the company may shew their love and affec- 
tion to their friends, by publicly joining in these short petitions 
for them. 

II. After these follow three prayers to be used 

by the Minister alone ; the first "being a prayer Tbe th ^ pray " 
for spiritual blessings;* the second for the tem- 
poral blessing of children, which is the chief end of marriage, 
and which is the blessing that God pronounced at first to 
Adam and Eve, 47 and which all mankind hath ever since wish- 
ed to new-married persons, 48 f and which is therefore always 

* In the first of these prayers, instead of the -words — " And as thou didst send thy 
Messing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort ; " in the Common Prayer of 
1549, the expression was — " And as thou didst send thy angel Raphael to Tobie and 
Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to their great comfort :" but this alluding to an apocry- 
phal instance, it was, at the review in 1551, better changed for a canonical one. 

+ In all the former books this was a hearty prayer for" a long life to the new-married 

43 James v. 13. 44 Vide Mull, et Muse, in Ps. exxviii. 45 Vide Encholog. Offic. 
Coron. p. r.SC, et Manual. Sarisb. Ord. Sponsal. fol. 39. 45 Ps. lxxxvi. 2. xx. 2. lxi 
3. lxi. 1. *' Gen. i. 28. 4S Gen. xxiv. GO. Ruth iv. 11, Vl. 



424 



OF THE FORM OF 



[chap. X 



to be asked at the solemnization of a marriage, except the 
advanced age of the persons makes our prayers unlikely to 
prevail, in which case our rubric has therefore ordered it to 
be omitted. The last prayer is made for the accomplishing of 
those duties which are aptly signified and implied by marriage. 

III. Last of all there is added a blessing, the 
ihe blessing. worc | s f which have an evident respect to the 
prayer immediately foregoing ; which was offered up upon 
such excellent grounds, and with so very great a probability 
of success, that the Priest may boldly venture to pronounce 
and insure it to the parties, if they are but duly prepared to 
receive it. 

Sect. VIII. — Of the Exhortation. 

The communion In a11 the old Common Prayer Books (i. e. till 
service to begin the last review) the rubric before this Exhorta- 
tion was worded thus : 

*,[ Then [shall begin the Communion. And*~] after the 
Gospel shall be said a Sermon, wherein ordinarily (so oft as 
there is any marriage) the office of a man and wife shall be 
declared, according to holy Scripture ; or, if there be no Sermon, 
the Minister shall read this that followeth. 

Why the rubric was altered, shall be shewn in the next sec- 
tion. In the mean while I shall observe, that if the married 
persons are disposed to communicate, the office for the Com- 
munion must still begin immediately after the forementioned 
blessing. And after the Gospel and Nicene Creed, if there 
be no Sermon declaring the duties of man and wife, the Ex- 
hortation here appointed is to be read instead of it. 

§. 2. For the married persons having mutually 
Th Exhortation he engaged to live together according to God's holy 
ordinance, i. e. according to those laws which he 
has ordained in his word ; it is very necessary they should 
hear and know what those laws are which they have engaged 
to perform. It was God's own command, that the kings of 

couple, the latter petition requesting, " that they might live together so long in godly 
love and honesty, that they might see their children's children, unto the third and 
fourth generation, to God's praise and honour," &c. In the following prayer also one 
of the petitions was a little differently expressed, viz. " And also that this woman may 
be loving and amiable to her husband as Rachel, wise as Rebecca, faithful and obedient 
as Sarah : and in all quietness," &c. 

* In the first book of king Edward the words between the crotchets [ ] were not 
inserted : but the design was the same, the Gospel being ordered upon account of the 
Communion, which was also enjoined by the last rubric of that book as well as of 
the rest. 



SICCT. IX.] 



SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 



425 



Israel should have a copy of the law delivered to them at their 
coronation; 49 and there is the same reason to give this ab- 
stract to those that have taken upon themselves the state of 
matrimony. For which reason, instead of the Epistle and 
Gospel used in the offices of the Greek and Roman Churches, 50 
here is a full collection of the duties of both parties, drawn 
from the Epistles of two great Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, 
in imitation of the practice of the primitive Church, which, 
always after the celebration of a marriage, exhorted the parties 
to keep their matrimonial vow inviolate. 51 

Sect. IX. — Of the last Rubric. 

At the end of the whole office is added a ru- How this rubric 
brie, declaring, that it is convenient that the new- was worded 
married persons should receive the holy Commu- formerl y- 
nion at the time of their marriage, or at the first opportunity 
after their marriage. In all the former Common Prayer Books 
this rubric was more positive, fixing and appointing the day 
of marriage for the time of communicating. The new-married 
persons, the same day of their marriage, must receive the holy 
Communion. And it was upon this account, as I have already 
observed, that the latter part of the office was ordered to be 
performed at the Lord's table, and that the Communion should 
be begun immediately after the blessing. 

The occasion of the alteration was an exception that was 
made against this rubric by the Dissenting Ministers, at the 
Conference at the Savoy. They objected, that " this either 
enforced all such, as were unfit for the Sacrament, to forbear 
marriage, contrary to Scripture, which approves the marriage 
of all men ; or else compelled all that should marry to come 
to the Lord's table, though never so unprepared. And for 
this reason, they desired the rubrics relating to the Commu- 
nion might be omitted ; and the rather, because that marriage- 
festivals are too often accompanied with such divertisements, 
as are unsuitable to those Christian duties, which ought to be 
before, and follow after, the receiving of that holy Sacra- 
ment." 53 To this the Episcopal Ministers answered, " That 
this rubric enforced none to forbear marriage, but presumed 
(as well it might) that all persons marriageable ought to be 
also fit to receive the holy Sacrament. And marriage being 

*» Deut. xvii. 18, 19. 2 Kings xi. 12. 5» Vide Eucholog. et Missal. 61 Aug. de 
Civ. Dei, 1. 1, c. 27. 52 See an Account of the Proceedings of the Commissioners of 
botli Persuasions, &c. p. 29. London, printed in 4to. 1661. 



426 OF THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY, [chap. ^ 



so solemn a covenant of God, they that undertook it in the 
fear of God, would not stick to seal it by receiving the holy 
Communion, and accordingly prepare themselves for it ; and 
therefore it would have been more Christian to have desired 
that those licentious festivities might be suppressed, and the 
Communion more generally used by those that married, of 
which the happiness would be greater than could easily be 
expressed." 53 For which they quote that passage in Tertul- 
lian, Unde sufficiam ad enarrandam felicitatem ejus Matri- 
monii, quod Ecclesia conciliate et conformat Oblatio? 51 

This was an answer which the Presbyterians knew not how 
to get over ; and therefore, as usual, they only return an un- 
mannerly reply. However, to oblige them, the rubric is 
altered, and persons are not now expressly required to com- 
municate at their marriage, but only reminded that it is con- 
venient so to do. 

_ , But no serious person surely will think the 

The advantage of ~ . , r J . . , 

communicating Communion less proper or requisite, because the 
011 the day of Church has left it more to their discretion. As 

marriage. . 

to the objection of these Puritans, that "mar- 
riage-festivals are too often accompanied with such divertise- 
ments as are unsuitable to the Sacrament;" a sober man 
would be apt to think, that this should rather be a reason why 
the Sacrament should be joined to this office, viz. that the 
reverence of this holy institution might banish those vain and 
wicked revels from Christian marriages. And certainly since 
one must be spared, it is much better to part with a licen- 
tious custom, than a religious duty. The passage of Ter- 
tullian, cited above, shews what opinion the primitive Church 
had of a marriage so decently solemnized ; and no office, I be- 
lieve, but the Geneva Order, 55 ever forbad, nor no Christians, 
I believe, but the English Puritans, ever found fault with, the 
administering of the Eucharist upon the wedding-day : and 
neither of these, I dare say, will influence the good disposi- 
tions of considerate men. The sober and serious will still 
believe, that when this holy Sacrament attends the Nuptials, 
the office will be esteemed more sacred and venerable, the 
persons will act more considerately and gravely, and the mar- 
riage-vow receive new strength from its being confirmed by 
so solemn an engagement. 

53 See the Papers that passed between the Commissioners, &c. p. 122. 54 Tertull. 
ad Uxor.l. 2, c. 8, p. 171, D. 55 Ordin. Eccles. Genev. 134. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



427 



CHAPTER XL 
OF THE ORDER FOR THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 
In a world so full of casualties as this we live in, 

t . t ■ i t 2 ii .L- • Why this office is 

m which sickness and even death sometimes m- p i aC ed next to 
terrupts the marriage solemnities, it should be that of matri- 
no matter of surprise that this melancholy office m ° ny * 
is placed immediately after that of matrimony. The eastern 
emperors thought it not unsuitable to choose the stone for 
their sepulchre on the day of their coronation. 1 And it would 
not a little tend to temper and moderate the exuberant joys 
which sometimes attend the festivities of marriage, if by cast- 
ing an eye on the following form, we should call to mind, 
that the next and longer scene may be calamitous. 

§. 2. It is certain that no age nor sex, no state visiting the sick . 
nor condition, can secure us from sickness ; and a duty incum- 
therefore, as no man should forget that it will, one en upon 
day or other, come to be his own lot ; so should all men take 
care to comfort those who at present lie under this calamity. 
So that this is a duty which all Christians are obliged to, and 
to which great promises are annexed, 2 and which was there- 
fore always esteemed, by the ancient Fathers of the Church, 
to be one of the most solemn exercises of religion. 3 

§. 3. The Clergy more especially are expressly 
required to perform this duty by a divine com- ^K^f" 
mand. For though private friends may pray for 
us, and with us, yet we can by no means place such confidence 
in their prayers, as we may in those that are sent to heaven in 
our behalf, by such as are peculiarly commissioned to offer 
them. For this reason it is enjoined by Saint James, 4 that 
if any be sick, they call for the elders of the Church. From 
whence we may observe that the care of sending 
for the Minister is left to the sick. For the Priest s ^ e d Jj* 
himself, it is very probable, may never have heard 
of his sickness ; or, if he has, may not be so good a judge 
when his visit will be seasonable, or when the party is best 
able to join with him. 

1 Dionvs. Carthus. de 4. Noviss. Art. 14. 2 ^r a tt. xxv. 44, 45. Heb. xiii. 3. 

James i. 27. Ecclus. vii. 35. 3 Tertull. de Cult. Foem. 1. 2, c. 11, p. 159, C. 4 James. 
T. 14. 15. 



428 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[fKAP. XI. 



§. 4. For this reason it is ordered by the ru- 
oVthSlckliess^ brie, tnat lv ^ ien an I/ person is sick, notice shall 
be given thereof to the Minister of the parish r 
i. e. not when the person is just expiring, (as is too often the 
case,) but when the distemper or disease first discovers its 
approach. To put it off to the last scene of life, is to defer 
the office till it can do no good. For when the distemper is 
grown past recovery, to pray for his restoration is only to 
mock the Almighty: and what spiritual advantage can be 
proposed or expected from the Minister's assistance, to one who 
is unable to do any thing for himself? For this reason it is the 
advice of the wise man, that in the time of our sickness we take 
care of our souls in the first place, and then afterwards give 
place to the physician. 5 And among the ancient constitutions 
of this Church, a strict charge is laid upon the bodily phy- 
sicians, that, when they are at any time called to the sick, they 
do before all things persuade them to send for the physician oj 
souls, that, when care is taken for the sick man's spirit, they 
may more successfully proceed to the remedies of external 
medicines? 

§. 5. It is the sick person's duty therefore to 
Shou? deify. & ve tne Minister notice, and the Minister's to go 

when notice is given : for by the sixty-seventh 
canon of the Church, it is ordered, that when any person is 
dangerously sick in any parish, the Minister or Curate (hav- 
ing knowledge thereof) shall resort unto him or her (if the dis- 
ease be not known, or probably suspected to be infectious) to 
instruct and comfort them in their distress, according to the 
order of the Communion Book, if he be no Preacher ; or if he 
be a Preacher, then as he shall think most needful and cou- 
Whether the Mi ven ^ ent ' Which last words evidently allow a 
nister be confin- preaching Minister (that is, a Minister who is 
ed^to the present licensed to preach) the liberty of using either this 

order, or any other, as he shall see convenient. 
And it is certain that the order prescribed by the Common 
Prayer Book is very deficient in several cases. For which 
reason bishop Andrews and others have drawn up offices to 
supply the defect ; though it may be questioned, whether, by 
the Act for the Uniformity of public prayers, we be not re- 
strained from private forms. At least it were to be wished 

5 Ecclus. xxxvii. 9, 10, 11, 12. 6 Constit. Richard. Episc. Sarum. A. D. 1217. 

apud Spelm. Concil. torn. ii. 



SKCT. I. II.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



429 



that some more copious office was provided by authority, 
which might take in the various conditions of the sick, for 
which they that confine themselves to the present order are 
often at a loss. 

Sect. I. — Of the Salutation. 
The minister of the parish coming into the sick 

• , r - r> 7 j ,-i • 7 The Salutation. 

man s house, is to say, Peace be to tins house, 
and to all that dwell in it : which is the same salutation that 
our Saviour commanded his Apostles to use to every house 
into which they should enter. 7 And (which is particular to 
our purpose) one main part of the Apostles' errand was to 
heal the sick* We know indeed the Apostles worked mira- 
culous cures : however, when the gift was ceased, the saluta- 
tion remained ; which therefore we use to this very day in 
visiting the sick, since we still go on the same charitable ac- 
count, though not endued with the same power. And the 
sense of the words is very suitable : for peace signifies all out- 
ward blessings, though, when used in salutations, it generally 
imports health. For which reason, in Joseph's inquiry 9 after 
the health of his father, though the Hebrew text expresses it, 
Is there peace to your father ? our translation renders it, Is 
your father well ? to which the Septuagint reading also ex- 
actly corresponds, viz. Is your father in health ? When 
therefore a family is visited with sickness or distress, what 
better salutation can we use than this, viz. that they may all 
have peace, i. e. health and prosperity ? And as the apos- 
tolical salutation was not a mere compliment, but a real bene- 
diction to those that were worthy ; 10 so shall this of ours pre- 
vail for what we ask to that house which is prepared to 
receive it. For which reason the family should receive it with 
thankfulness and faith, and welcome with joy the ambassador 
of heaven, who in the time of their calamity comes with 
health and salvation to their dwelling. 

Sect. II. — Of the Supplications and Prayers. 
I. When the Minister is come into the sick 
man's presence, he is to begin the Supplications. 1 JSfonneriy. 
By the first book of king Edward, these were in- 
troduced with the hundred and forty-third Psalm; which, 
upon whatever occasion it was composed, is very proper and 

'• Luke x. 5. 8 Ver. 9. *> Genesis xliii. 27. 10 Luke x. 6. 



430 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CUAP. XI. 



applicable to any state of affliction. But at the next review 
this Psalm was left out, and the office has ever since begun 

with the sentence out of the Litany. For the 
^thTSr Litan y bein S designed for the averting of evil, 

and the proper office for a state of affliction, would 
have been very proper to be used here entirely, but that it is 
supposed the sick man cannot attend so long. For which 
reason there is only one sentence taken out of the whole, to- 
deprecate both our own and the iniquities of our forefathers, 
which so long as God remembers, his holiness and justice will 
oblige him to punish us more and more. And because all of us 
equally deserve to be afflicted, as well as the person for whom 
we are going to pray, therefore all that are present join to say 
both for themselves and him, Spare us, good Lord. 

II. And as all that came to Jesus for help 
I °upon a us, I &" cy used to crv > Lord have mercy upon us ; 11 so do 

we here, on the like occasion, supplicate and be- 
seech the whole Trinity for mercy, in that ancient form of 
which we have already spoken. 12 

III. When we have thus prayed against evil, 
T prayer?' S we proceed to petition for those good things 

which the sick man's condition makes him stand 
in need of. And that our prayers may be the more prevail- 
ing, they are introduced as usual with the Prayer of our 
Lord, which is more particularly proper here, as being very 
suitable to a state of trouble. 

IV. This is followed by some short Responses, 
and^Ssponses. m which all that are present are to join with the 

Priest in behalf of the sick, who will doubtless be 
refreshed by the charity and devotion of so many supplicants, 
with united requests, petitioning the throne of grace for him.* 

V. After this the Minister proceeds to collect 
The first collect. ^ re q Uests f t } ie people into a short prayer; 

wherein he begs, that whilst the sickness remains, it may be 
made easy to bear, by the comforts of divine grace continually 
bestowed upon the person that suffers. 

The second Col- VL And then > in another prayer, he proceeds 
lect. further to beg that the correction may be sancti- 

* The places of the Psalms, whence they are taken, have already been shewed upon 
the office of Matrimony : 13 here is only one added for the preservation of the sick from 
the malice of the devil, which is taken from Psalm lxxxix. 23, according to the old 
Latin translation. 

" Matt. ix. 27. xv. 22. xvii. 15. xx. 30, 31. 12 Page 152, 153. 13 Page 423. 



■sect, ni.l 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



431 



. The first part. 



fied, so that, whether it end in life or death, it may turn to 
his advantage. 

§. 2. This last prayer was shorter before the How this prayer 
last review : how it ran then may be seen in the was worded 
margin,* where the instances borrowed from the fonnerl >'- 
Roman offices, being examples of miraculous cures which are 
not now to be expected, were prudently left out, and supplied 
with some other more suitable petitions : which must be al- 
lowed to be a good improvement of the form. 

Sect. III. — Of the Exhortation. 

It is a part Of the Minister's office to exhort, 
as well as to pray for their people, and that not 
only in time of health, but also in sickness : u for then they 
stand in most need of directions, and are then most likely to 
follow wholesome advice. The Church therefore, being un- 
willing to lose so likely an opportunity of doing good, when 
the sufferings of the patient make him tender and tractable, 
hath drawn up a proper and pious Exhortation, to improve 
that happy temper for his soul's salvation. The form here 
prescribed exactly agrees with the heads of Exhortation, 
which the Priest was ordered to use to the sick by an ancient 
Council above eight hundred years ago. 15 It consists first of 
Instructions, concerning the author of afflictions, the ends for 
which they are sent, the manner how we are to bear them, 
and the benefits of improving them. And here, if the person 
he very sick, the Curate may end his Exhortation. 

But if his distemper will allow him to proceed, The second part 
the Minister is to admonish and stir him up to 
the practice of those virtues which are now especially needful : 
such as, in the first place, is patience ; since, till his mind is 
made calm, it is vain to press him either to faith or repentance. 
For which reason this second part of the Exhortation we are 
speaking of endeavours to cheer up the spirits of the sick, by 
proper arguments, precepts, and examples. 

* After the words — " grieved with sickness," it ran thus : " Visit him, O Lord, as 
thou didst visit Peter's wife's mother, and the captain's servant. [And as thou 'pre- 
servedst Tobie and Sarah by thy angel from danger ;] so visit and restore unto this sick 
person his former health, (if it be thy will,) or else give him grace so to take thy visita- 
tion, that after this painful life ended, he may dwell with thee in life everlasting. 
Amen." But note, the clause within the crotchets [] concerning Tobie and Sarah, 
•was only in the first book of king Edward, which also omitted the words " visit and," 
and instead of " visitation " read " correction." 

14 1 Thess. v. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 2. ] » Concil. Nannetens. c. 4, apud Binium, torn. iii. 
par. 2, pag. 131. 



432 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. XI. 



And now, being in hopes that his mind is com- 
T1 3SiS i0D P 0S( ;<1, the Minister proceeds to give him such 
advice as is proper for one that is preparing for 
death. And since at his Baptism he made a solemn vow to 
God, which he promised to keep all the days of his life ; it is 
fit he should examine, now the end of his life may probably 
draw near, how he has performed and discharged that promise. 
And because one part of his vow was, to believe all the Arti- 
cles of the Christian faith, therefore the Priest particularly 
inquires into the sick man's belief. For to doubt of or deny 
any of these articles, is declared to be a dangerous and damn- 
able state. It is to forsake the faith into which he was bap- 
tized : and what else is this but to cut himself off from all the 
privileges and advantages to which his baptism entitled him : 
For which reason it is necessary that our brother should shew- 
that he has kept this faith entire, that so we may be satisfied 
that he dies a sound member of the Catholic Church, out of 
which no salvation can ordinarily be obtained. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Examination and Exhortation according 
to the direction in the Rubric. 

The discretional '^ HE f° rmer Exhortation agrees to all sick per- 
examination of sons in general, and is therefore prescribed in 

the sick person. & gefc Bufc gince the caseg and tempers f 

men in sickness are very different, the Church leaves it to 
the discretion of the Minister who visits, to assist and direct 
them in other matters, as he sees the particular case requires. 
She only prescribes the heads of Examination, and leaves the 
management and expression to the prudence of the Minister, 
since no form could possibly be contrived, that should suit all 
the variety of circumstances that happen. 

§. 1. The first direction given (which was 
1 ' P ent t anc l i re ' added at the last review) is, that the Minister 
shall examine whether he repent him truly of 
his sins. For it is very certain that all have sinned, 16 and 
consequently that all have need of repentance ; and therefore 
before the Minister can give the sick man comfort upon any 
good grounds, it is fit that he should be satisfied of the truth 
of his repentance. 

§. 2. In the next place he is to examine, 
2 'charity his Whether he be in charity with all the zvorld, ex- 
horting him to forgive, from the bottom of his 

i° Rom. iii. 23. 



SECT. IV.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK 



433 



heart, all persons that have offended him. For there is not 
any duty more enforced in the Gospel, than that of brotherly 
reconciliation, or forgiving of injuries, which even in the 
prayer that our Lord has taught us is made the condition of 
God's forgiving us. The example therefore of our Lord and 
his first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for their murderers, 
at the very instant of their death, should always be considered 
upon these occasions. Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do,- 1 ' and, Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge, 18 which were their dying words, should always be ours. 
For sure it is high time for men to forget their resentments 
against their neighbours, when they are just going to answer for 
their own misdoings : especially when we are taught so plainly 
by our Saviour, that unless we have compassion on our fellow- 
servants, our Lord will exact from us all that we owe to him, 
and will deliver us over to the tormentors till we shall have 
paid what is due. 19 

But besides the sick person's forgiving those that have of- 
fended him, if he has offended any other, he must ask them for- 
giveness; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, 
he must also make amends to the uttermost of his power. For 
he who refuses to do this is not a penitent for the injury he 
has done, but would certainly do more, if he had time and 
opportunity ; and therefore he can expect nothing but con- 
demnation from that Judge, who knows the tendency and 
temper of his mind. Our Lord, we know, did not receive 
Zacchaeus into the number of his followers or disciples, till he 
had made profession of his willingness to restore : 20 who then 
can expect to be received into his kingdom, that refuses so 
necessary a part of justice ? Since therefore the sick person 
may now, for what he knows, be going to appear before the 
Judge of all the world, from whom he that doth icrong shall 
receive for the wrong which he hath done, without respect of 
persons ; 21 how much doth it concern him to agree with his 
adversary while he is yet in the way with him, lest aftericards 
the adversary deliver him to the judge, and the judge deliver 
him to the officer, and so he be cast into prison, from whence 
he shall by no means come out till he has paid the uttermost 
farthing.-' 1 So necessary is it even for those who but suspect 
themselves of any wrongful deed, to judge and examine them- 

17 Luke xxiii. 34. 13 Acts vii. 60. 19 Matt, xviii. 23, &c. 2 <> Luke xix. 8. 
21 Col. iii. 25. « Matt. v. 25. 26. 

2 p 



434 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap, xr 



selves with all possible strictness, and by public acknowledg- 
ments and tender of satisfaction to declare their unfeigned 
and hearty repentance. 

He must be ex §' ^* After tne exerc ^ se of these two branches 
horted US to settle of charity, should follow the third, viz. that of 
fa i i S r S W ° rldly af giving to the poor : but before the sick man be 
exhorted to this, it is necessary that he should 
know what is his own to give. For which reason, if he has 
not before disposed of his goods, he is then to be admonished to 
make his will, and to declare his debts, what he oweth and ivhat 
is owing unto him, for the better discharging of his conscience, 
and the quietness of his executors. And though the making 
of a will be a secular matter, which does not relate to those 
spiritual concerns which the Minister comes to the sick man 
about ; yet since the affairs of intestates are generally left in 
so confused a manner, that strifes and contests are often the 
result, it is very prudently enjoined by our Church, that the 
Minister should remind them of settling their affairs. Men 
indeed slwuld often be put in remembrance, to take order for 
tlie settling of their temporal estates whilst they are in health : 
for no man is sure but that he may be taken off suddenly, 
without having time to perform it ; or though he may be seiz- 
ed with a lingering disease, yet it may be such a one as may 
incapacitate him from doing it. Or supposing the best, that 
he may have timely notice or warning of his death, and his 
understanding hold good and perfect to the last; yet sure it 
must be a disturbance to a dying man, to have those moments 
taken up in ordering and disposing of his worldly affairs, which 
ought to be employed in preparing him for eternity. However, 
if our carelessness has deferred it till then, it must by no means 
be omitted now. We must not leave our friends and relations 
involved in endless suits and contentions ; none of our family 
must be left unprovided for, through our neglect of assigning 
their portion ; nor must our creditors be defrauded of their 
just demands, for want of our clearing or declaring our debts. 
If in any of these cases our last act be unjust, we leave a blot 
upon our name in this world, and can expect nothing but a 
sad doom in the next. 

(But this ma be "^ or ^ s reason tne Church makes it a part of 
done before^hl the Minister's care. And by an ancient constitu- 
Minister begins t j on ma( j e m t h e year people were forbid 

his prayers.) , . _ TT ..y . , ' r r 

to make their wills without the presence ot the 



SECT. TV.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



435 



Parish-Priest, as they desired that their Wills might be fulfil- 
led. 23 However, if the Minister think this a matter of too 
secular a nature to be mingled with his discourses concerning 
his spiritual concerns, he is allowed to manage and despatch 
this first before he begins the holy office. • For that is the in- 
tent of the following rubric, which allows, that the words be- 
fore rehearsed maybe said before the Minister begin his pray- 
er, as he shall see cause. Which, if compared with king 
Edward's Common Prayer Books, plainly refers to the man's 
disposal of his goods ; against which part of the direction the 
contents of this rubric are printed in the margin.* 

§. 4. The man's affairs being now settled, and 
his circumstances known, the Minister, in the ^ttepoor? 1 * 1 
next place, is not to omit earnestly to move him, 
if he be of ability, to be liberal to the poor. By the old canon 
law every one was obliged to leave such a proportion of his 
goods or estate to charitable uses, as he bequeathed to each of 
his children. 24 This moiety, which belongeth to the Church, 
was laid up by the Bishop for the maintenance of the Clergy, 
the repair of the fabric, and the like. But we are only enjoin- 
ed to put the rich in mind of the poor, that out of the abund- 
ance which they are going to leave, they should bestow some 
liberal largess on them. And indeed, of all our treasures, that 
alone which we thus dispose of is laid up in store for ourselves. 
Our good works are our only movables that shall follow us to 
the grave : and therefore there is no time more seasonable 
for them than sickness, when we are preparing to be gone. 

§. 5. Besides the Examination and Exhorta- 
tion above mentioned, the sick person is further confers hiSl° 
to be moved to make a special confession of his 
sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty 
matters i. e. I suppose, if he has committed any sin for 
which the censure of the Church ought to be inflicted, or 
else if he is perplexed concerning the nature, or some nice 
circumstances of his crime. It was upon the former of these 
cases, that private confession seems at first to have been ap- 
pointed ; for in the early ages of the Church, when the public 
humiliation of scandalous offenders was observed to be at- 
tended with some great advantages, many persons of zeal 
would not only rank themselves in the class of public penitents 

* This may be done before the Minister begin his prayers, as he shall see cause. 
23 See Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, A. D. 12 36, 29. 24 Decret. Par. 2, Caua. 
13, Qu. 2. 

2 F 2 



436 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CH A V. XI. 



for sins done in secret, but would even solemnly confess be 
lore the congregation the particular crime, for which they 
desired to make satisfaction, by submitting to penance. Now 
though it was fit that what had been openly committed in the 
face of the world should be openly retracted, that so the 
scandal might be removed ; yet it might often happen, that 
in the case of secret sins, it would be better that the particu- 
lars should be kept concealed. For this reason a Penitentiary, 
or Confessor, was early appointed in every diocese, to whom 
persons in doubt should resort, and consult with him, what 
on the one hand might be fit for publication, and what on the 
other would be better kept secret. So that though public 

penance was still generally assigned for grievous 
fession a Jn the™" offences that were privately committed ; yet the 
c r hurch Ve person that confessed did not always make a 

public declaration of the fact, for which they 
appeared in the rank of penitents. The congregation to be 
sure knew that something had been committed which de- 
served that correction : but what the thing was, they were no 
otherwise acquainted with, than as the Penitentiary should 
advise or forbid the discovery. This is the best conjecture 
we are able to make concerning the rise of the Penitentiary's 
office ; though we have some footsteps of private and secret 
confessions before we read of any stated confessor. For 
Origen, who lived at the beginning of the third century, 
speaks of private confessions as the received usage in his 
time, and only advises the choice of a person that was fit to 
be trusted. 25 And St. Cyprian, that lived much about the 
same time, commends the zeal of those that laid open even 
their thoughts and intentions of offering sacrifice to idols 
(though they had not yet proceeded to the fact) with grief 
and sincerity before the Priest. 26 And much the same advice 
is given by others, who mention private confession as a 
general and well-known practice, and only caution the peni- 
tents to choose such persons to consult with, as will be care- 
ful and tender of their reputation and safety. 27 And it was 
an imprudent direction of the penitentiaries at Constanti- 
nople, for the public confession of a sin which had been 
better concealed, that caused Nectarius, who was then bishop 

25 Origen. in Psal. xxxvii. Horn. 2. sr. Cypr. de Laps. 27 Greg. Nyssen. contra 
Eunom. Orat. 11, torn. ii. p. 705, de Pcenit. torn. ii. p. 175, 176. Paulin. in Vit. Ambros , 
Basil. Regulae Breviores, p. 614. Interrogat. 229, tom. ii. Lucian. in Paraen. sive Li- 
bel!, ad Poenit. Hieron. in Matt. xvi. 



sr.cT. iv.] 



VISITATION* OF THE SICK. 



437 



of that city, to abolish the office, and to strike the name of 
Penitentiary out of the ecclesiastical roll. 23 It appears indeed 
from St. Chrysostom,- 9 that the public discipline of the 
Church was the same after this accident as it was before : 
only the confession of secret sins, which gave no scandal, was 
left from that time to the discretion and conscience of those 
who had committed them ; who should judge for themselves, 
whether they should resort to, or abstain from, the holy Com- 
munion. Not but that they were at liberty, after the abolish- 
ing of this office, as much as they were before, to use the ad- 
vice of a ghostly counsellor, if they found themselves in want 
of it : but then there was no peculiar officer, whose distinct 
business it should be to receive such applications ; but every 
one was left to choose a confessor for himself, in whom he 
might safely confide. 30 And how far even this came to be 
afterwards abused, is too well known to need any proof : but 
no argument sure can be drawn, that because a practice has 
been abused, it should therefore cease to be used. The 
abuses of it should be reformed, but not the practice discon- 
tinued. 

And therefore the Church of England at the H ow far enjoined 
Reformation, in the particular now before us, by the church of 
freed it from all the encroachments with which En s land - 
the Church of Rome had embarrassed it, and reduced con- 
fession to its primitive plan. She neither calls it a sacrament, 
nor requires it to be used as universally necessary : but be- 
cause it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Com- 
munion, but with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet 
conscience ; she therefore advises, that if there be any wlw is 
not able to quiet his own conscience, but requireth further coon- 
fort or counsel, he should come to his own, or some other discreet 
and learned Minister of God's ivord, and open his grief that, 
by the ministry of God's holy ivord, he may receive the benefit 
of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the 
quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and 
doubtfidness. zx Here we see there is nothing arbitrarily pre- 
scribed, but every one is left to his own discretion : all that 
was absolutely enjoined, was only a mutual forbearance and 
peace ; for the security of which a clause was added in the 

2S Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 19, et Soz. 1. 7, c. 17. 29 In Ep. ad Innocent, et in 
Ep, ad Ilehrie. Horn. 4, et in 2 Cor. Horn. 4, et 18, et in Ephes. Horn. 3. 20 See all 
these particulars more largely treated of in Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, chap. 
2, part !,§.!. 31 See the conclusion of the first Exhortation to the holy Communion. 



438 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap XI 



first book of king Edward, requiring such as shall be satisfied 
with a general confession, not to be offended with them that do 
use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret confes- 
sion to the Priest: nor those also ichich think needful and con- 
venient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly 
to open their sins to the Priest, to be offended with them that are 
satisfied with their humble confessions to God, and the general 
confession to the Church. But in all things to follow and keep 
the rule of charity, and every man to be satisfied zvith his own 
conscience, not judging other men's minds or consciences ; 
whereas he hath no warrant of God's word to the same. 
What could have been added more judiciously than this, to 
temper, on the one hand, the rigours of those who were too 
apt at that time to insist upon confession as always absolutely 
necessary to salvation ; and to prevent, on the other hand, a 
carelessness in those who, being prejudiced against the abuse, 
were apt indiscriminately to reject the thing, as at no time 
needful or useful to a penitent ? So that we may still, I pre- 
sume, wish, very consistently with the determination of our 
Church, that our people would apply themselves, oftener than 
they do, to their spiritual physicians, even in the time of their 
health ; since it is much to be feared, they are wounded 
oftener than they complain, and yet, through aversion to dis- 
closing their sore, suffer it to gangrene, for want of their help 
who should work the cure. 

But present ease is not the only benefit the 
advantages*©*?? penitent may expect from his confessor's aid: 
he will be better assisted in the regulation of his 
life ; and when his last conflict shall make its approach, the 
holy man, being no stranger to the state of his soul, will be 
better prepared to guide and conduct it through all difficulties 
that may oppose. However, if we have neglected to com- 
municate our doubts and scruples in our health, we have more 
need of following the Apostle's advice when we are sick, viz. 
to call for the elders of the Church, and to confess our faults 
in order to engage their fervent prayers?' For this reason, 
though our Church leaves it in a manner to every one's dis- 
cretion, in the time of health, whether they will be satisfied 
with a general confession to God and the Church ; yet when 
they are sick, she thinks it proper that they be moved to make 
a special confession of their sins to the Priest, if they feel 

32 James v. 14, 16. 



•SECT. V.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



439 



their consciences troubled with any weighty matter. For 
how will he be able to satisfy their doubts, if he be not let 
into the particulars of their case ? Or with what assurance 
can he absolve them, or admit them to the peace and com- 
munion of the Church, before he is apprized how far they 
have deserved its censure and bonds ? If then they are de- 
sirous of the following consolations which the Church has 
provided for their quiet and ease, it is fit they should first 
declare and make known what burden it is, from which they 
want to be freed. How far the Church can assist or relieve 
them, or what consolations they are which she administers, 
the Absolution here prescribed will lead us to consider; 
which, with the Collect that follows, shall make the subject 
of the next section. 

Sect. V. — Of the Absolution and the Collect following. 

After the sick person has made a special con- 
fession of his sins, as has been mentioned above, ^solution! 116 
the Priest is to absolve him. if he humbly and 
heartily desire it, after this sort : 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, ivho hath left power to his Church to 
absolve all sinners, ivho truly repent and believe in him, of his 
great mercy forgive thee thine offences : and by his authority 
committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Now whether the Church designs, by this form, Seems on] t 
that the Priest shall directly convey God's pardon res^cYthe cen- 
to the conscience of the sinner, for his sins and ^urcSf the 
offences committed against him ; or whether that 
he shall only remit the censures of the Church, and continue 
him in the privilege of Church-communion, which he may be 
supposed to have forfeited by the sins he has confessed, is 
thought by some not to be clearly or determinately expressed. 
But if we look forward to the Collect immediately after to be 
used, it looks as if the Church did only intend the remission 
of ecclesiastical censures and bonds. For in that prayer the 
penitent is said still most earnestly to desire pardon and for- 
giveness : which surely there would be no occasion to do, if 
he had been actually pardoned and forgiven by God, by vir- 
tue of the absolution pronounced before. Again, the Priest 
offers a special request, that God would preserve and con- 
tinue him in the unity of the Church ; which seems to sup- 



440 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap, xt 

pose, that the foregoing Absolution had been pronounced in 
order to restore him to its peace. And therefore since the 
form will bear this sense, without straining or putting any 
force upon the words, I hope it will be no offence to interpret 
them so, as is most consistent with the original commission 
given by our Lord, and the exercise of it in the purest ages of 
the Church. 

what ow §' ^' N° w it * s pl am tnat tne authority first 

given SThe promised to St. Peter, 33 and afterwards in com- 
sSi by ° ur mon to a11 the Apostles, 34 was a power of admit- 
ting to, or excluding from, Church-communion : 
for it is expressed by the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
Now the kingdom of heaven being, in the Scriptural sense, 
the Church of Christ, of which heaven is the metropolis or 
principal part ; and the keys (which are a token or ensign of 
power) being also used in Scripture to denote the conferring 
of authority to some chief officer in a family, to take in and 
exclude from it whom he should judge convenient ; 35 it must 
follow, that by the keys of the kingdom of heaven must be 
meant a power of admitting into, and shutting out of, the 
Christian Church. Accordingly the exercise of this power is 
called binding and loosing, which were terms used by the 
Jews, to signify the same things with what we now express 
by excommunicating and absolving? 6 And our Saviour gives 
in charge, that whosoever is thus bound should be looked 
upon by his disciples as a heathen man and apublican ; which 
seems naturally to import, that from a state of communion 
with the Christian Church, he should be reduced into the 
state of heathens, and such other profligate men, who were 
not admitted into their places of worship, nor so much as re- 
ceived into common conversation. 37 

St. John indeed tells us, that our Saviour, after his resur- 
rection, and when he seemed to be giving his final commission, 
endued his Apostles with a power expressed by the terms of 
remitting and retaining sins. 3S But now it is the opinion of 
Dr. Hammond, 30 and from him of a late author of not inferior 
judgment, 40 that this passage has much the same signification 

Matt. xvi. 19. 34 Matt, xviii. 18. 33 Isa. xxii. 22. Rev. iii. 7, and xx. 1, 2, 3. 
:w Vide Selden. de Synod, veter. Ebraeor. 1. 1, c. 7, et Morin. de Administrat. Pcenitent. 
1. 4, c. 23. 37 Matt.ix. 11. Acts xi. 3. xxi.28. Gal. ii. 12. 38 John xx. 23. 

39 See his notes upon the text. 40 Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline of the Pri- 
mitive Church, p. 12, 13. See also Bishop Potter's Discourse of Church-government 
ch. 5, page 345, &c, where the bishop gives the same interpretation of this text with Dr 
Hammond. 



SECT. V.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



441 



with the former, and that the terms in St. John, of retaining 
and remitting, are equivalent to those in St. Matthew, of 
binding and loosing. They only observe that retaining is 
more emphatical than binding, and that it signifies properly 
to keep bound, and the word remit refers to sin as a debt, 
whereas the word loose refers to it as a bond or chain. And 
if this be the sense of the words in St. John, then it is plain 
that this commission, as well as the former in St. Matthew, 
confers only a power of excommunicating and absolving ; 
and consequently that no authority can be urged from hence 
for the applying of God's pardon to the conscience of a sin- 
ner, or for absolving him any otherwise than from the cen- 
sures of the Church. 

And indeed that these words give no power to us, in the 
present state of the Church, to forgive or remit sins in the 
name of God, so as immediately to restore the person ab- 
solved to his favour and grace, I humbly presume to join my 
opinion with theirs. But yet, with due submission, I cannot 
forbear thinking, that such a power was intended to be given 
by them to the Apostles. For I observe, that wherever else in 
the New Testament we meet with the word d^t'^i, (which we 
render remit in the text,) applied to sins, as it is here, it is 
constantly used to express the remission and forgiveness of 
them, or the entire putting them away ; and therefore the use 
of the same terms, in the text I am speaking of, inclines me to 
interpret the commission there given, of a power to remit 
sins, even in relation to God ; insomuch that those sins which 
the Apostles should declare forgiven by virtue of this com- 
mission, should be actually forgiven by God himself, so as to 
be imputed no more. Not that I believe this power extended 
to the remitting all sins indiscriminately, and in whomsoever 
they pleased : but only that when some temporal calamity or 
disease had been inflicted upon a man as a punishment for his 
sins, the Apostles, if inwardly moved by the Spirit, had power 
to declare that his sins were forgiven, and as a testimony 
thereof to remove his calamity. That which inclines me to 
put this sense upon these words is my observing, that when 
our Saviour vouchsafed to heal the paralytic, he first pro- 
nounced that his sins rvere forgiven him:* 1 and that when St. 
James also is speaking of a sick man's being raised by the 
prayer of faith, from his bodily disease, he adds, that if lie 

* l Matt. ix. 2, &c. 



442 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CHAP. XI. 



had committed any sins, (which were the cause of it,) they 
also should he forgiven him. i2 Now from hence I would in- 
fer, that the power of healing diseases, and the power of re- 
mitting sins, were generally consequent one of the other. 
And therefore since it is evident that the Apostles and others, 
in the first ages of the Church, could heal diseases, it seems 
not unlikely that they did it by virtue of a power that was in- 
vested in them of forgiving sins. And consequently, if they 
had a power of forgiving sins, that power must be conferred 
upon them by this commission in St. John, where our Saviour 
sends them with the same plenitude of power with which he 
himself was sent of the Father, and explains that power by 
the express and open terms of remitting and retaining sins. 
And if this be the sense of this text in St. John, then it is 
only to be interpreted of an extraordinary power which ac- 
companied the inflicting, or continuing, or removing diseases, 
(as the occasion required,) which our Saviour thought fit, for 
the readier progress of the Gospel, to intrust with the Apos- 
tles and first preachers of Christianity. 

§. 3. However, that these words were never 
fects^fexcom-" understood by the primitive Christians to imply 
munication and a standing authority in the Ministers of the Gos- 

absolution. , ° , J „ . . j- , l i 

pel, to pardon or forgive sins immediately and 
directly in relation to God, and as to which the censure of the 
Church had been in no wise concerned, I think may fairly be 
urged from there being no mention made, in any of the an- 
cient Fathers, that any such authority was ever pretended to 
by any Church whatever, for a great many centuries after 
Christ. And therefore, if they relate to any standing author- 
ity, which was designed to continue through all ages of the 
Church, they must necessarily be interpreted in the above- 
mentioned sense ; which makes them equivalent to the texts 
in St. Matthew, which, I have already shewed, have an evi- 
dent relation to excommunicating and absolving, or to the in- 
flicting and removing Church-censures. Not that the favour 
or displeasure of God is wholly unconcerned in these acts of 
the Church ; for the contrary of this is evidently declared by 
our Lord himself: whatsoever, saith he, ye shall bind on 
earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall 
loose on earth, slurtl be loosed in heaven : which must at least 
imply, that whatever sentence shall be duly passed by the go- 

42 James v. 14. 15. 



•SECT. V.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



443 



vernors of the Church, shall be ratified by him whom they 
represent ; insomuch that whosoever is, by virtue of such sen- 
tence, cut off from the Church, not only loses the benefit of 
Church-communion, (which is ordinarily the necessary means 
of salvation,) but will also, if he dies in a state of impenitence, 
be looked upon by God to have forfeited all the privileges of 
his baptism, and consequently to be as much without the pale 
of the Church, as if he had never been admitted into it. Nay, 
further, though even an innocent man should, through wrong 
information, or some other mischance, be unjustly excom- 
municated, he must, with due respect and submission to the 
authority, plead his innocence, and use all proper means that 
offer, to bring his judges to a sense of their mistake. And if, 
after all, his sentence is, for want of opportunities to clear 
himself, ratified and confirmed, he is obliged to acquiesce in 
it : for should he, upon such occasion, behave himself unduti- 
fully to the ministers of Christ, he will undoubtedly incur the 
same sentence in heaven, which the courts on earth would 
pass on those who should offer to abuse and revile their 
judges ; i. e. he will be condemned for his disobedience to 
them, let him be ever so innocent as to the crime laid to his 
charge. So that though a man may have committed no real 
offence against God, yet if he falls under the censure of the 
Church, it will be imputed to him as a sin even by God him- 
self, if he does not obtain, or by all due humiliation endeavour 
to obtain, her absolution and forgiveness. And for this reason 
the absolution of the Church ought always to be sued for with 
prayers and tears, whenever we have done any thing that may 
give her offence. And therefore all I aim at is only to shew, 
that it does not appear from this text in St. John, nor from 
any of the others that have been spoken to above, that any ab- 
solution pronounced by the Church can cleanse or do away our 
inward guilt, or remit the eternal penalties of sin, which are 
declared to be due to it by the sentence of God, any further 
than by the prayers which are appointed to accompany it, and 
by the use of those ordinances to which it restores us, it may 
be a means, in the end, of obtaining our pardon from God 
himself, and the forgiveness of our sin as it relates to him. 

§. 4. And this, upon inquiry, we shall find to 
be all that the Church laid claim to for divers SS£^°£h!£ 
ages after our Saviour. For if we look into her sense exercised 
practice forthe firstfour centuries, we shall always clurcT™^™ 
find absolution co-relative to public discipline. 



444 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. XI. 



The peace of the Church was never ordinarily given but to 
such as were under its censures before ; nor was any loosed, 
or had his sins remitted, but who had before been bound, or 
had his sins retained. It is true, at such times, prayers were 
always used, for the obtaining to the penitent the forgiveness 
of God, and for restoring him again to his favour and grace. 
And indeed it does not appear, that in those primitive ages 
there was any other ceremony used, at the instant of re-admit- 
ting a penitent to the peace of the Church, than intercessions 
and prayers offered to God on his behalf, together with the 
imposition of the Bishop's hands ; which, by the way too, 
were all along applied to him throughout the whole course of 
his penitential separation : so that this sin was gradually ex- 
piated by the deprecations of the Minister, during the whole 
time of his being under the state of penance ; and was then 
judged to be fully expiated, when the term of his sentence 
was quite expired, and he had for the last time received the 
imposition of hands, upon which he was immediately rein- 
stated in all the privileges of full communion. 43 In some time 
after the optative form was gradually introduced, and mixed 
with the precatory , much as it is in the form of absolution 
used by our own Church in the office of Communion. 44 But 
as to the indicative form, it does not appear to have been 
generally introduced till about the middle of the twelfth cen- 
tury ; and then it was made use of only to reconcile the pe- 
nitent to the Church, whilst the dejyrecatory was what was 
supposed to procure his pardon from God. 45 Within a cen- 
tury afterwards, indeed, it was a ruled case in the Church, 
that such as received the confession of penitents should, by 
an indicative form, absolve them from their sins : 46 and the 
Priests were supposed to have a power invested in them, to 
release a sinner from the wrath of God, purely by pronouncing 
this form over him. 

But I have already observed, that as to the pardon of God, 
and applying it directly to the sinner's conscience, the power 
of the Priest is only ministerial and therefore one would 
think that, in the exercise of that power, the form should be 
rather precatory than peremptory. But in restoring a man to 
the peace of the Church, (which he may appear by his confes- 
sion to have forfeited, though sentence was never denounced 

43 See Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, p. 84, &c. 44 See this proved by Dr. 
Marshal, in his Penitential Discipline, chap. 3, §. 4. 45 See Dr. Marshal, as before. 
46 See the Constitution of Othobon, A. D. 1268, in Bishov Gibson's Codex, Tit. 21, cap. 
i. p. 4S7. 



SECT. V.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



445 



against him,) there the form may decently enough be absolute 
and indicative : for the Minister in this case has a judicial 
authority, and so is at liberty to use fuller terms. 

§. 5. And that the form of absolution, of which What intencled 
we are now discoursing, is only designed to remit \>y the present 
to the penitent the censures that might be due form " 
from the Church to his sins, may not only be inferred from 
the expressions I have already taken notice of in the Collect 
that is appointed to be used immediately after it, 47 but may 
also further be argued from the end and design for which that 
Collect was originally composed. For in the Penitential of 
Ecbert, who was archbishop of York in the middle of the 
eighth century, the reader may find this very prayer, with a 
very little variation, to have been one of the ancient formula- 
ries for clinical absolution : 4S for even in the primitive Church, 
absolution was granted to a sick-bed penitent, though neither 
excommunication nor penance had preceded before. Penance 
indeed was in such cases assigned him, and he stood bound, 
upon his recovery, to comply with the conditions upon which 
it was granted him, and to perform it publicly in the face of 
the Church : but since he was not at present in such a state 
or capacity, he was by no means whatever to be denied a 
reconciliation, but was admitted to the one, upon a presump- 
tion that, if he lived, he would perform the other. 49 And as 
this was the ancient usage of the Church, and as our own 
Church has made choice of a form that was used upon these 
occasions, to be used to a penitent in the same circumstances ; 
why may we not suppose that her design was to accommo- 
date, as far as she could, our modern office to the ancient 
ones ? If the Minister that visits will use his endeavours, he 
may certainly bring it very near : for he may assign the party 
that confesses to him, certain penitential mortifications to be 
undergone by him, as soon as he recovers and is able, though 
they be not publicly submitted to in the face of the congrega- 
tion : and he may insist with him, that he shall give some 
proof of his repentance, before he offers to receive the Com- 
munion in the Church. And if the penitent promises to sub- 
mit to these conditions, the Minister may proceed, with a 
great deal of hope and satisfaction to himself, and with a great 
deal of comfort and advantage to the penitent, to reconcile 

* 7 See page 439. 43 See the form in Dr. Marshal's Appendix to his Penitential Di* 
cipline, p. 54. * 9 See Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, p. 104, &c. 



446 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. XT.. 



him to the Church in the absolution itself, and to intercede 
with, and to recommend him to the throne of grace in the 
prayer that follows. And if this too were done before a few 
chosen serious witnesses, it would still bear a nearer resem- 
blance to the ancient practice. For Tertullian observes, that 
the Church may subsist in a few of her members ; 50 and our 
Saviour has promised, that where two or three are gathered 
together in his name, he will be there in the midst of them, 51 
and (which to our purpose is somewhat remarkable) that 
promise follows close after the power he had just before been 
promising to his disciples of binding and loosing. 52 

Private Absoiu- §• 6 - B y the first book of kin S Edward VI. 
tion formerly en- the same form of Absolution was ordered to be 
joined. used in all private confessions : i. e. I suppose, 

whenever any person, whose conscience was troubled and 
grieved in any thing lacking comfort or counsel, should (as it 
was then worded in the Exhortation to the Communion) come 
to some discreet and learned Priest taught in the law of God, 
and confess and open his sin and grief secretly ; that he might 
receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort, that his con- 
science might be relieved, and that of him {as of the Minister 
of God and of the Church) he might receive comfort and ab- 
solution, to the satisfaction of his mind, and avoiding of all 
scruple and doubtfulness. But in the review of the Common 
Prayer, in the fifth year of that prince, our reformers (observ- 
ing, as I suppose, that this form of Absolution was not very 
ancient, and that persons might place too much confidence and 
security in it, as thinking that the bare pronouncing it over 
them cleansed them from their inward pollution and guilt, and 
entirely remitted their sins before God) left out that rubric in 
the office appointed for the Visitation of the Sick, and in the 
Exhortation to the Communion mentioned above, somewhat 
altered the expressions, to shew that the benefit of Absolution 
(of Absolution, I presume, from inward guilt) was not to be- 
received by the pronouncing of any form, but by a due ap- 
plication and ministry of God's holy word.™ So that all that 
the Minister seems here empowered to transact, in order to 
quiet the conscience of a person that applies to him for ad- 
vice, is only to judge by the outward signs and fruits of his 
repentance, whether his conversion be real and sincere ; and 

50 Tertull. de Poenit. c. 10. 51 Matt, xviii. 20. 52 See Dr. Marshal, as before, 
pp. 219, 220. 53 j hn xv. 3. 2 Cor. v. 19. 



SECT. VI.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



447 



if upon examination it appears to be so, he is then to comfort 
him, with an assurance that his sins are remitted even in the 
court of heaven, and that he is restored to the grace and fa- 
vour of Christ. But then this he is to deliver, not absolutely, 
but conditionally ; i. e. upon the presumption that his repent- 
ance is as sincere as he represents it. He must by no means 
pronounce it as a final judge ; because Christ alone can dis- 
cern whether his conversion be feigned or real ; and conse- 
quently he only can absolutely determine the state of the man 
towards God. 

§. 7. As to the form of Absolution, of which 

° ,. . i ■ it The present form 

we are now discoursing, a parenthesis was add- nottobepro- 
ed at the last review, to intimate, that this is not Snaked! 
to be used even over the sick, unless he humbly 
and heartily desire it. For it is fit a man should shew an 
earnest desire, and a due sense of so great a benefit, before it 
is offered him. And then if he be rightly instructed in the 
end and design of it, and the form itself be applied with that 
prudence and caution above described, the use of it surely 
may not only tend to the good of the penitent, but may also 
prove of singular service and advantage to the Church. 

Sect. VI. — Of the Psalm and Blessings. 

I. After the sick person is absolved by the 
Church, and recommended to the pardon and ^^plaTm 7 " 
grace of God, the Minister is directed to use in 

his behalf the Seventy-first Psalm ; which is so very apt and 
proper to express the sick man's desires and wants, and at 
the same time to exercise his faith, to inflame his love, to 
uphold his patience, and revive his hope, that not only our 
own, but the eastern, 54 western, 55 and most Churches in the 
world, agree in the choice of it for this office. At the review 
at the Restoration indeed the five last verses were left out 
of our own, as supposing the person restored to his former 
state and prosperity, and so not being suitable to be used 
over one whose case is languishing and dangerous. 

II. And now to take leave with a valedictory 
Blessing ; as it is very fit and decent at all times, blessing? 
so it is necessary, when we depart from a friend, 

whose case is such as that perhaps we may see his face no 
more. For this reason the office is concluded with three 

m Eucholog. p. 418,419. » Manual. Sarisb.fbL 37. 



448 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[cK.vr. xi. 



solemn blessings ; the first of which is an address to God the 
Son, the second to the Father, and the third (which was 
added at the last review) to the holy and undivided Trinity : 
and all assist to procure to the patient the greatest blessings 
he can need or desire. 

Sect. VII. — Of the Unction prescribed by the first Common Prayer 

Booh of king Edicard VI. 
j. .. ft , After the second of the aforesaid blessings, 

i nction of the . © ' 

sick prescribed i. e. at the end or the ordinary office for the 
So?Prlver Com " Visitation of the Sick in king Edward's first 
Book of king Liturgy, If the sich person desired to be anointed, 
Edward.vi. ^ Priest was to anoint him upon the forehead 
or breast only, making the sign of the Cross, saying thus : 

As ivith this visible oil thy body outwardly is anointed, so 
our heavenly Father, Almighty God, grant of his infinite good- 
ness, that thy soul inwardly may be anointed ivith the Holy 
Ghost, ivho is the Spirit of all strength, comfort, relief, and 
gladness. And vouchsafe for his great mercy (if it be his 
blessed will) to restore unto thee thy bodily health and strength 
to serve him ; and send thee release of all thy pains, troubles, 
and diseases, both in body and mind. And howsoever his 
goodness (by his divine and unsearchable providence) shall dis- 
pose of thee, we his unworthy Ministers and Servants humbly 
beseech the eternal Majesty, to do with thee according to the 
midtitude of his innumerable mercies, and to pardon thee all 
thy sins and offences committed by all thy bodily senses, pas- 
sions, and carnal affections ; who also vouchsafe mercifully 
to grant unto thee ghostly strength, by his Holy Spirit, to ivith- 
s-tand and overcome all temptations and assaults of thine ad- 
versary, that in no wise he prevail against thee, but that thou 
may est have perfect victory and triumph against the devil, sin, 
and death, through Christ, our Lord; who by his death hath 
overcome the Prince of death, and with the Father and the 
Holy Ghost evermore liveth and reigneth God, ivorld without 
end. Amen. 

After this followed the thirteenth Psalm, How long wilt 
thou forget me, Lord ? &c. 

This seems to have been the remains of both the ancient 
and pop.sh unction of the sick ; which I shall shew by and by 
differed one from the other, as well as it will appear they both 
did from the primitive. But to give the reader a distinct view 



SECT. VII.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



449 



of the case, it will be necessary to begin from the famous 
passage in St. James, upon which they were each of them 
founded and built. Now in the last chapter of that Epistle, 
among several other instructions which the Apostle was giving 
to the Jewish converts, this, it seems, was one, viz. that if 
any was sick among them, he should call for the elders of the 
Church, who should pray over him, anointing him with oil in 
the name of the Lord : the effect of which he declared would 
be that the prayer of faith should save the sick, and the 
Lord should raise him up ; and if he had committed sins, they 
should be forgiven him. 55 This is the place on which those 
that contend for the unction of the sick (whether popish or 
ancient) lay all their stress, urging it as a standing precept of 
St. James, which was to continue in force through all ages of 
Christianity. 

§. 2. But now if we compare these words with 
the context, together with the primitive practice ApostSS the 
of the Church, it will evidently appear, that they healing the sick ; 
were only designed as a temporary institution, an why " 
proper to the time in which the Apostle lived, and suited as 
well to an ancient practice of the Jews, as to a miraculous 
dispensation which was then vouchsafed by the Holy Ghost, 
to the first believers of the Gospel. For that the Apostles 
and others, in the first ages of the Church, were endued with 
several extraordinary gifts, almost every page in the New 
Testament declares : and that the power of healing, or mira- 
culously recovering sick persons from their diseases, was one 
of these gifts, is also too evident to need any proof. 57 It is 
sufficient therefore to note, that though these operations were 
effected wholly by virtue of that power with which the Apos- 
tles and others at that time were endued, (insomuch that we 
read of some that were healed by the bare speaking of a word™ 
of others that were cured by handkerchiefs, or aprons, 59 and 
of others again that were recovered by the imposition of 
hands™ or by the mere shadow of an Apostle as he was pass- 
ing by ; 61 ) yet since it was customary for the Jews to apply oil 
,to the sick, as an ordinary medicine to heal their diseases ; 62 
therefore the Apostles, in working the cures upon those of their 
own nation, did often make use of the same application. For 

56 James v. 14, 15. " See 1 Cor. xii. 9, 28, 30. 58 Acts ix. 34. & 9 Acts xix. 

11, 12. eo Mark xvi. 18. Acts xxviii. 8. " Acts v. 15, 16. See Dr. Light- 
foot's Works, vol. i. page 333; and upon Mark vi. 13, vol. ii.page 343. 

2 G 



450 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. xr. 



thus we are told, that when the twelve were sent forth by our 
Lord with power, they anointed with oil many that were sick, 
and healed them.™ Not that they used oil, as having any 
natural force in it to procure the effect ; but only as a symbol 
or sign of a miraculous recovery ; for that the virtue, which 
attended the unction used by the Apostles, was supernatural, 
and derived from him who sent them, was plain enough from 
hence, that the same means, which at other times were at best 
but of doubtful success, always produced a certain cure when 
applied by them. 

why prescribed §• 3 - Anointing of the sick therefore being 
by st. James, and customary among the Jews, and such anointing, 
in what sense. when p er f orme( i by those that were endued with 
the gift of healing, being attended with extraordinary and 
miraculous cures, it was very natural for St. James, when he 
was writing to the twelve tribes which were scattered abroad 
and giving them instructions for the behaviour of the sick, to 
advise them to send for the elders of the Church, and to com- 
mit the application of the oil to them. Not that he promised 
that the ordinary use of it should always produce such a mira- 
culous effect ; but only that since the elders of the Church 
were the persons on whom the gift of healing was generally 
bestowed, the happiest event from the anointing with oil might 
reasonably be expected when it was done by them. And in- 
deed that the Apostle gave this advice upon supposition that 
their following it would often be attended with miraculous 
cures, is plain from the words in the following verse, where 
he says, that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up. Now faith, we know, is often used in 
Scripture for an mward persuasion, that one should be enabled 
by God to do a miracle ; 65 and therefore the prayer of faith 
must be a prayer accompanied with such a persuasion. Con- 
sequently the meaning of St. James, when he says, the prayer 
of faith shall save the sick, must be, that when the anointing 
with oil, which he directs the elders to perform, should be 
attended or accompanied with the prayer of faith, it should 
save or recover the sick from his disease, and prevail with the 
Lord to raise him up. For it is not to be supposed, that they 
who were endued with this gift, could exercise or exert it 
upon whom they pleased ; but only that when they knew, by 

63 Markvi. 7, 13. 64 James i. 1. 65 Matt. xvii. 20. xxi. 21. Mark xi. 23. Luke 
xvii. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 9, and xiii. 2. 



SECT. VII.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



451 



the impulse of the Spirit, that the Lord designed to save any 
person whom they were called upon to anoint, they prayed to 
him with full assurance of success, and the sick was accord- 
ingly restored to health. And this being done generally to 
those on whom sickness had been inflicted as a chastisement 
for some sins which they had committed, (which was a very 
common case in the beginning of the Church, 66 ) therefore it is 
added, that if he have committed sins, they should he for- 
given him ; i. e. not only his affliction or disease should be 
removed, but his sins, which were the cause of it, should also 
be taken away. 

But further, that the prayer of faith, to which the Apostle 
here attributes the recovery of the sick, is a prayer offered up 
by the extraordinary impulse of the Spirit, may be gathered 
from what he adds by way of confirmation at the sixteenth 
verse, viz. that the inspired prayer of a righteous man avail- 
eth much : for so the word evspyov/jievri is often used to sig- 
nify, and so the context shews it ought to be translated in this 
place. For that the prayers of Elijah (which the Apostle 
brings for an example in the two following verses) were 
prayers of faith in the sense mentioned above, is plain from 
the history of that prophet in the first Book of Kings ; for as 
we know from St. James, that he prayed that it might not rain, 
and again that it might rain ; so we know by that history, that 
he expressly and absolutely foretold to Ahab both the one 
and the other. 07 And this too being an instance of the preva- 
lency of prayer, in producing of strange and sudden events, 
shews clearly what was meant by the Apostle in this place, 
when he says, that the inspired prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much, viz. that it avails to the procuring temporal 
effects of a strange, and surprising, and wonderful nature. 

I am sensible that, in this interpretation of St. James, I differ 
in one point from several of the most eminent divines of our 
Church : and that is, in supposing the unction here mentioned 
was to be applied indifferently towards all that were sick : 
whereas Dr. Clagget, 68 Dr. Bennet, 69 and others, are of 
opinion that it was not to be used to any but those on whom 
the elders were assured the gift of healing should take place. 
What inclines me to give a different interpretation of this 

60 See 1 Cor. xi. 30, 31, 32. and John v. 15. er 1 Kings xvii. 1. and xviii. 1, 41. 
68 See his Discourse of Extreme Unction, pages 14, 26, 27. 69 Confutation of 

Popery, p. 307. 

2 G 2 



452 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 

passage, is the fourteenth verse, which seems to be expressed 
in very general terms. Is any sick among you ? let him call 
for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, 
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. This seems, 
I say, to imply, that all that were sick were to send for the 
elders of the Church ; that the elders of the Church were to 
pray over all that sent for them ; and that they were to anoint 
with oil all whom they prayed over ; and consequently that 
they were to anoint all in general that were sick. The following 
verse indeed, which is concerning the prayer of faith, must 
necessarily be restrained to those only who were to be mira- 
culously healed : for I have shewed, that the prayer of faith 
was a prayer accompanied with a persuasion that the sick 
should recover ; and therefore such a prayer could never be 
used, but over such as the Lord had designed to raise. So 
that though, I suppose, what the Apostle said of unction was 
a general direction to all that were sick ; yet I do not under- 
stand him to promise any cure by it, but when it should be ac- 
companied with the prayer of faith. Nor yet do I believe that 
this direction was intended to oblige any other branches, or 
distant ages of the Church ; but rather that it was designed as 
a temporary institution suited to the custom of anointing the 
sick, which I have observed was, at that time, the ordinary 
practice of the Jews ; and which the Apostle did not concern 
himself either to abolish or confirm ; but only to require, that 
if the use of it was continued among the converts to Christi- 
anity, it should always be performed, not by Jewish, as for- 
merly, but by Christian elders or priests. But now this, when 
the Jewish economy ceased, was no longer of use to the Chris- 
tian Church. Most of those who afterwards came over to 
Christianity were infidels or heathens : who having no such 
rite amongst them in the state they were in before, did not 
think that they were obliged, by this direction of St. James, 
to take it up when they were Christians. 

§.4. Accordingly, if we search into the an- 
was^edin^thf cient writers of the Church, we shall never find 
church^ an y men ^ orl °f anointing, but when it was used 
as a rite of the gift of healing. As the gift of 
healing indeed was frequent for several ages after the Apos- 
tles ; so we grant that the unction was often made use of to 
denote the miraculousness of the cure: 70 but then as an or- 

•° Tertull. ad Scap. c. 4. Hieron. in Vita Hilarionis. Sulpit. Sever, in Vita Mart. 



SECT. TIT.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



453 



dinary rite, used in the Visitation of the Sick, there is not a hint 
of it to be met with for above six hundred years after Christ : 
though it is well known that the Christian writers, within that 
compass of time, discourse very frequently and plainly con- 
cerning the sacraments and rites of the Church. Nay, further, 
though the manner and circumstances of the deaths of many 
holy persons within those centuries are described ; yet there is 
not the least intimation any where to be met with that so 
much as one of them was anointed. 

5. 5. About the seventh century, it is true, the 

• ,■ /• n • i i j." i . What was after- 

anointmg or all sick persons whatsoever began to wa rds used by 
take place : the chief inducement to which seems ^urch ent 
to have been the observation of those cures by 
anointing that were wrought by such as had the gift of heal- 
ing. And indeed, if we look back into the history of those 
times, we shall find that very small inducements were suffi- 
cient to dispose men to seek for temporary relief, from things 
that were consecrated to the uses of religion, especially when 
there were some notable examples of success. And thus in 
the case before us, the gift of miraculously healing with oil 
being not yet quite ceased, 71 the Christians in this century, 
that laboured under any calamity or disease, chose rather to 
seek for relief and recovery by the use and application of the 
holy oil, than by any other means. And as this too seemed 
to be countenanced by the text in St. James, and also to ex- 
press the reposing greater confidence in God than in the force 
of natural remedies, it therefore passed off with the less op- 
position. So that from this time the anointing was not only 
of those who were to be healed of their diseases by the prayer 
of faith, but of all sick persons in general, who were anointed 
of course, in bare hopes of receiving by it some bodily relief. 72 
And perhaps some casual cures which sometimes followed 
this unction, but which yet might have happened without any 
unction at all, did not a little contribute to support the re- 
putation of it. 

§. 6. However, in after-ages another use of it How abused by 
was discovered ; for when they began to be con- the church of 
vinced that it did no good to the body, they con- Rome- 

c. 15. August, de Civitat. Dei, 1. 22, c. S. Vide et Rosweid. in Vit. Patrum, pag. 211, 
343, 451, &c. Vide et Dallaeum de Extrema Unctione, p. 85, 86, 87. et Baron. A. C. 
63, n. 4. 1 See Dr. Clagget of Extreme Unction, pages 94, 95 . 72 Vide Menardi 
Not. in Sacram. Gregorii, p. 341. See also the Defence of the Exposition of the Order 
of the Church of England, p. 45, frc. 



454 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[ca.\r. XI, 



eluded that at least it must have a wonderful virtue towards 
the saving of the soul : so that about the twelfth century it 
was improved into what it is now in the Church of Rome, and 
applied, not for the recovery of bodily health, but to cleanse 
the soul from its sins, and to prepare it for the next life. For 
this reason it was not now used as before, to those of whose 
recovery they had any reasonable hopes, but to those only 
who were looked upon to be at the point of departure. Nor 
was the unction applied to those parts of the body which were 
the seat of the disease ; but to the eyes, ears, and nostrils, to 
the mouth, hands, and feet, and lastly to the reins, as the se- 
veral seats of sin. And this is the unction which to this day 
is practised by the Church of Rome ; having been first pub- 
licly owned by Eugenius IV. at the close of the Florentine 
Synod, to be the fifth sacrament ; and then, in the next age, 
being established by the Council of Trent under the severest 
anathemas or curses. 73 But this only relates to the Church of 
Rome ; for though the Greek Church hath in some things 
been guilty of modern innovations ; yet their unction is ap- 
parently that unction which began in the seventh age after 
Christ. 74 So that the practice of the Greeks has some anti- 
quity to plead ; whereas that of the Church of Rome came in 
but lately in comparison, and may almost be called an inven- 
tion of yesterday. 

How far counte- §• ^ or tn * s reason > when our reformers came 
nanced at the to draw up an office for the Visitation of the 

Reformation. ag thgy had gome reasous to induce them 

not to lay aside the rite of anointing entirely; yet they 
changed it from the popish to that of the ancients. It is true, 
in the prayer which they appointed to be used, there is a pe- 
tition for the pardon of all the sins and offences committed 
by the bodily senses, passions, and carnal affections of the 
patient : but this is so worded, as not to have any necessary 
reference to the oil ; which may well enough be understood 
to be applied to the sick, in order to restore to him his bodily 
health and strength. Besides, the unction here allowed could 
not be called extreme, because it might be ministered to any 
that were sick : nor yet was it to be applied to all the organs 
of sense, but only to the forehead or breast of the patient. 
But, in short; and once for all, the unction in that book was 

73 Vide Canones et Oecreta Concil. Trident. Sess. 14. 7 * Vide Simeon. Thessalonic. 
in Arcud. de Extr. Unct. c. 7, sect. His ita, &c. Vid. et Eucholog. per Goar. p. 40S, &c. 



SECT. VIII.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



455 



not so much as enjoined or prescribed, but only indulged to 
such as might probably, in the infancy of the Reformation, be 
uneasy without it : for the rubric does not order nor suppose 
any unction, unless the sick person himself desire it : and 
therefore when Bucer found fault with it in his Censure, 75 it 
was entirely discontinued in the second book of king Edward. 
And indeed if that reformer had never attempted any worse 
amendments, he had betrayed less want of learning, and done 
more service to the Church. 

Sect. VIII. — Of the Occasional Prayers. 

There is so much variety in the state of sick- How needful 
ness, that it is impossible one form, though it and when first 
were ever so complete, should be contrived to added - 
fit all particular occasions. As to those whose distemper lies 
chiefly in the body, and who are of an age that is capable of 
comfort and advice, and have also their senses and under- 
standings entire, and faculties and time enough to exercise all 
the forementioned duties of religion ; the former office is very 
suitable and proper. But there are singular cases which re- 
quire peculiar prayers, and more indeed than it is easy to pro- 
vide for in any stated forms : however, there are four which 
our Church took notice of at the last review, and for which 
therefore she hath provided four suitable prayers. 

I. The first of these is for a sick child : in 
which case, as the fondness and love of the pa- ^giSTSt? 1 a 
rents will direct them to use all human means for 
its recovery ; so Christianity should instruct them to turn the 
violence of their passion into fervent addresses to Almighty 
God to help it. He gave it at first, and He only can preserve 
it : and it was the trust of the Shunamite in his power to save, 
that encouraged her to apply herself to the prophet Elisha, 
even when her son was actually dead, which procured for her 
a success as wonderful as her faith. 76 And though when Jairus 
went to Jesus for his dying child, the disease proved swifter 
than his utmost haste ; yet our Lord rewarded the faith of 
the parent with the restoration of the daughter's life. 77 Such 
miracles indeed we must not now expect : but yet, if we seek 
the prayers of the Church with due humility and faith, there 
is no doubt but they will assist very much in the cure ; and 
that if any means can move God to spare them, this will. 

75 Bucer, page 489. 75 2 Kings iv. 77 Matt. ix. 



4.56 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 

II. The second of these prayers is for a sick 
BkkpCTson^hen person, when there appeareth small hope of 
there appeareth recovery. For when the disease hath almost got 
co\ a ery!° pe ° f tne victory of the sick, it is not to be expected 

that the man should do much on his part for the 
bettering of his future state. And therefore since (it is to be 
hoped) he hath already gone through the preparatory exer- 
cises of patience and submission, of faith and repentance, of 
thankfulness and charity ; but is now rendered incapable of 
any other office ; the Minister must take care that at least he 
do not want such further benefits as the Church has provided 
for him in this excellent form : which is also very proper to 
be used, when any sudden disease puts a man beyond all hopes 
of recovery at the first assault ; or when any, though visited 
with a lingering disease, have yet wretchedly deferred to send 
for a Minister, till there is as little to be done for the pro- 
curing their salvation, as there is for the restoring of their 
bodily health. However, since they are now incapable of 
those other comforts and advantages which this office directs, 
it is fit we should do all that possibly we can, and that is to 
pray for them heartily in this form, the only means left in 
such an emergency. 

III. The third is a Commendatory Prayer 

tory Pi™™ e fo d r a a f or a slc ^ P erson at the point of departure : for 
sick person at we know that wlien tlie dust returns to the earth 
parturef ° f de " as & was, the spirit returns unto God that gave 
it .* 78 and therefore our Saviour himself, when he 
was expiring on the cross, cries out to his Father, Into thy 
hands I commend my spirit.' 9 And that we are to imitate 
his holy example, is evident from the practice of his first 
martyr St. Stephen, who also at his death commended his soul 
into the hands of his Redeemer. 80 Accordingly the succeed- 
ing ages of the Church always observed the same religious 
rite : 81 and indeed it is unlikely that any one should omit it, 
who believes, as they did, that every one that dies before he 
can reach the seat of bliss, must pass through the dominion 
of evil spirits, who are ready, to be sure, to snatch at and seize 
all unhappy souls who approach their territories, without a 
guard of holy angels to preserve them from their power, and 
to conduct them safe to a place of repose. 83 For this reason, 

78 Eccles. xii. 7. 79 Luke xxii. 46. 80 Acts vii. 59. 81 Hieron. in Psal. xxx. 
«2 Vide Just. Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 333. Compare also Eph. ii. 2, and vi. 12, with 
Luke xvi. 22. 



SECT. VIII.] 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



457 



because there are but few, who, at the instant of departure, are 
able to implore this protection for themselves ; therefore our 
Church, in imitation of the saints of former ages, 83 calls in the 
Minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother 
in his last extremity. In order to this she directs, that when 
any is passing out of this life, a bell shall be 
tolled, and tlie Minister shall not then be slack ^^Sexti^ 
to do his last duty. 8i The passing-bell indeed 
is now generally disused, and only the short peal continued, 
which the canon orders to be rung after tlie party's death. 
But the former was certainly of much more use, to give no- 
tice to all within the sound of it, to put up their last and most 
affectionate prayers for their dying neighbour, and to help 
their friend in those extremities which themselves must as- 
suredly one day feel. However, if their prayers are wanted, 
it is more requisite that the Minister should be more diligent 
in his, who should therefore constantly be sent for, when these 
agonies approach, that so, by the use of this excellent com- 
posure, he may assist the dying soul in its flight to God, and 
alarm the living by such an example of mortality. 
IV. The fourth and last of these prayers is for m 

7 7 7 - • 7 r • t-i The prayer for 

persons troubled in mind or conscience. Jbor persons troubled 
when any become melancholy through bodily in mind and in 

J J o j conscience. 

distempers, or by evil principles are troubled 
with dismal and false apprehensions of God, or are too much 
disturbed in their inward peace and quiet, through a dreadful 
sense of their former sins ; it is fit that the spiritual physician 
should be called, that he may discreetly apply the promises of 
God, and endeavour to obtain his consolation and mercy for 
the dejected penitent's deplorable state : to which purpose the 
prayer that is here provided, is very pertinent and useful. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. 
OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 

Sect. I. — Of the General Rubric. 

Forasmuch as mortal men be subject to many The general ru- 
sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever brie for communs- 
uncertain what time they shall depart out of this catmg t e slck- 
life ; therefore to the intent they may be always in a readiness 

w Possidon. in Vita August, c. 31. 84 Canon LXVII. 



458 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. [app. to chap, xv 



to die, whensoever it shall please Almighty God to call them, 
the Curates are diligently from time to time (but especially in 
the time of pestilence or other infectious sickness) to exhort the 
parishioners to the often receiving of the holy Communion of 
the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, when it shall be 
publicly administered in the Church ; that so doing they may, 
in case of sudden visitation, have the less cause to be disquieted 
for lack of the same. But if the sick person be not able to 
come to the Church, and yet is desirous to receive the Commu- 
nion in his house, then he must give timely notice to the Curate ; 
who, in such a case, is here directed to celebrate and admin- 
Agreeable to the * ster ^is holy Sacrament to him ; which is ex- 
practice of the actly conformable to the most early practice of 
primitive church. thg primitive Church: for there is nothing more 
frequently mentioned by the ancient writers than the care of 
the Church to distribute the Eucharist to all dying persons 
that were capable of receiving it. They esteemed it the great- 
est unhappiness that could be, for any one to die before he 
had been supplied with this 'Efodiov, or Viaticum, (as the an- 
cient canons 85 frequently call it,) i. e. the necessary prepara- 
tion or provision for the road, for those that are going to their 
eternal home. For this reason even those who were under 
the censures of the Church, and were suspended from the 
Eucharist in the time of their health, were yet allowed to com- 
municate, if any danger of death surprised them, before they 
had finished their stated penance. 86 Nay, about the fifth cen- 
tury this was carried so high, that some were for forcing the 
elements into the mouths of those that were dead : but this 
was soon censured by several Councils, which ordered that 
practice to be discontinued. 87 However, the care of the 
Church to communicate the sick has been equally the same in 
all ages. And indeed that she looks upon this not only as con- 
venient, but as highly necessary, may be gathered from the dis- 
pensation that she grants with the canons, purely to secure it. 
Private conse §' ^' "^ or though administering the Commu- 
cra\ V ionofthe e eie- nion in private houses be forbid by the canons of 
Slowed 1 ™ far 1603 > 88 as wel1 as % tnose of ancient times, 89 un- 
der the severest penalties ; yet there is an excep- 

85 Concil. Nicen. 1, Can. 13. Concil. Araus. 1, Can. 3. Concil. Agathens. Can. 11. 
66 Vide Canones citat. in not. (q) et Greg. Nyss. Ep. ad Letoium Melitens. Can. 5, torn 
3. p. 953, A. 87 Concil. Carthag. 3, Can. 2. Concil. Trull. Can. 83. »s Canon 
JJCXI. 69 Concil. Trull. Can. 31. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 



459 



tion made in the case of sickness : upon which occasion, both 
the canons above mentioned, and this present rubric, allow 
the Curate (liaving a convenient place in the sick man's house, 
with all tilings necessary so prepared, that he may reverently 
minister) there to celebrate the holy Communion. This indul- 
gence was rare in the primitive Church : however, some in- 
stances may be produced, even from thence, of private conse- 
crations upon great emergencies. 90 But, generally speaking, 
it was usual for the Ministers to reserve some part of the ele- 
ments that had been consecrated before, in the church, to be 
always in a readiness upon such like occasions. 91 Agreeably to 
which in this very rubric (as it was worded in king Edward's 
first Common Prayer) it was ordered, that if the same day (on 
which the person was to be visited) there was a celebration of 
the holy Communion in the church, then the Priest ivas to re- 
serve [at the open Communion) so much of the Sacrament of 
the Body and Blood, as ivould serve the sick person, and so 
many as were to communicate with him, (if there were any :) 
and so soon as he conveniently could, after the open Communion 
elided in the church, he teas to go and minister the same, &c. 
But then this reservation was not allowed, unless there was a 
Communion at the church on the same day on which the sick 
person was to be visited : for by another rubric it was ordered, 
that if the day were not appointed for the open Communion in 
the church, then (upon convenient warning given) the Curate 
was to go and visit the sick person afore noon: and having a 
convenient place in the sick man's house {where he might re- 
verently celebrate) with all things necessary for the same, and 
notbeing otherwise letted with the public service, or any other 
just impediment, there to celebrate the holy Communion. And 
oven the elements that were consecrated thus privately were 
to be reserved, if there was any occasion to administer the 
sacrament again that day. For so it was ordered by a third 
rubric of this office in the same book, that if there were any 
■more sick persons to be visited the same day that the Curate 
celebrated in any sick man's house ; then the Curate was there 
to reserve so much of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood, 
as would serve the other sick persons, and such as were ap- 
pointed to communicate with them, {if there were any.) and 
immediately to carry it and minister it unto them. So that 



See Bingham's Antiquities, book xv. chap. 4, §. 10. 91 Bingham, ibid. §.9 and 11, 



460 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. [app. to chap. xi. 



from all these rubrics compared together, we may observe, 
first, that though anciently it was usual for the Ministers to 
reserve some part of the consecrated elements, either in the 
church or at their houses, to be always in a readiness for any 
that should want to receive, before the time came to conse- 
crate again; 92 yet after the Reformation it was never allowed 
to reserve them longer than that day on which they were con- 
secrated, nor indeed to reserve them at all, unless the Curate 
knew beforehand that some sick person was that day to be 
visited. We may therefore, secondly, suppose, that it was not 
the design of our reformers to attribute more power or effi- 
cacy to the sacrament, when it was consecrated in the church, 
than it had when it was consecrated in a private house ; but 
rather that the sick, by partaking of the elements which had 
been consecrated elsewhere, and of which his fellow-parish- 
ioners or neighbours had been partakers before him, might 
join as it were in the same Communion with the rest of the 
congregation, though his present infirmity hindered him from 
attending the public service of the church. And this, it seems, 
was generally the motive why the sacrament was sent about 
to one another in the primitive Church. 93 Nor do I find that 
Bucer had any objection to it in his Censure upon our Liturgy. 
However, in the second book of king Edward VI. all these 
rubrics, as far as they relate to the reservation, were laid aside. 
Though in a Latin translation of the Common Prayer Book, 
which was put out by authority in the second year of queen 
Elizabeth, for the use of the universities and the colleges of 
Winchester and Eton, the rubric for the reservation is inserted 
at large. The reason of this difference might probably be 
this, viz. that the reservation having been abused by some 
ignorant and superstitious people, just after the Reformation, 
was the cause why it was discontinued in the English Com- 
mon Prayer Book: but the Latin Book being designed for 
the use of learned societies, the reservation might safely enough 
be trusted with them, upon a presumption that they, who en- 
joyed so much light, would be the less liable to abuse it to 
error and superstition. Though it is not unlikely that this 
might be indulged those learned bodies, in order to recon- 
cile them the easier to reformation : for it was the design 
of queen Elizabeth (as I have more than once observed) to 
contrive the Liturgy so, as to oblige as many of each party 

,J2 See Mr. Bingham, as before, §.11. 83 See Mr. Bingham, as before, §. 8. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 



461 



as she could. However (except in this Latin translation of it) 
there has been no mention of the reservation in any of the 
Common Prayer Books since the first of king Edward. But 
the rubric has constantly enjoined the holy Communion to be 
celebrated, on suchfoccasion, in the sick man's house. 

§. 3. When the sick person desires to receive Time iy no tice to 
the Communion in his house, he m ust give time- be given to the 
ly notice to the Curate ; which ought to be some Curate - 
time over-night, or else early in the morning of the same day, 
as it was expressed in this rubric in all the Common Prayer 
Books till the last review : since otherwise the Curate, through 
other necessary avocations, may, for want of such notice, be 
out of the way at the time that he is wanted. 

§. 4. When the sick person gives notice, he is 
also to signify how many there are to commu- ^re?to Lm"- 
nicate with him ; which was ordered (as appears J^"^ 6 with 
by the first Common Prayer) that the Minister e S1C ' 
might know how much of the sacred elements to reserve. It 
is also plain by the first and last of those rubrics, which I have 
above transcribed out of that book, that the Minister was al- 
lowed, in all cases of sickness, to communicate alone with the 
sick man, if there were none else to receive with him. For 
they order him to reserve so much of the Sacrament as shall 
serve the sick person, and so many as shall communicate with 
him, (if there he any „•) which plainly supposes that, if there 
were none, he was only to reserve enough for himself and the 
sick man. And so in the rubric relating to the manner of the 
Minister's distributing ; he was first to receive the Commu- 
nion himself, then to minister to those that were appointed to 
communicate with the sick, (if there were any,) and then to 
the sick person. However, it followed in that rubric, that the 
sick person should always desire some, either of his own house, 
or else of his neighbours, to receive the holy Communion with 
him ; for that would be to him a singular great comfort, and 
of their part a great token of charity. But at the second re- 
view, these parentheses were all thrown out, and in all our 
Common Prayers ever since till the Restoration, a good num- 
ber was required by this general rubric to receive the Com- 
munion with the sick person, without determining what num- 
ber should be esteemed a good one. But the Scotch Common 
Prayer is a little more explicit, and orders a sufficient number, 
at least two or three ; and from thence, I suppose, our own 



462 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK, [app. to chap. xt. 



rubric, at the Restoration, ordered that there should be three, 
ir two at the least, i. e. at least three, including the sick, to 
communicate with the Minister, which is the same number 
that is required to a Communion in the Church. 94 However, 
at the same time that such a number was required in all ordi- 
nary sicknesses, (i. e. in the fifth year of king Edward,) there 
was a rubric added at the end of this office, (which has con- 
tinued ever since,) that in the time of the plague, sweat, or 
3uch other like contagious times of sickness or diseases, ivhen 
none of the parish or neighbours can be gotten to communicate 
tvith the sick in their houses, for fear of the infection, upon 
special request of the diseased, the Minister alone may commu- 
nicate with him. But this is only indulged in such extra- 
ordinary cases ; for in other ordinary diseases, lack of company 
to receive with the sick person is mentioned as a just impedi- 
ment why the Sacrament should not be administered to him. 95 

Sect. II. — Of the form of Administering. 

The Collect ^ HE Curate having a convenient place in the 

Epistle, and sick marts house, with all things necessary sopre- 
Gospel. pared, that he may reverently minister, he was 

by the first Common Prayer to introduce the office with the 
hundred and seventeenth Psalm, which was instead of the in- 
troit, and then to use the short Litany, Lord have mercy upon 
us, &c, with the usual salutation, The Lord be with you, &c. 
But introits now being laid aside, he is to begin immediately 
with the Collect, that is very proper to the occasion, which is 
followed by two passages of Scripture for an Epistle and 
Gospel, which evidently tend to comfort and deliver the sick 
man from the fears which he may be too apt to entertain. 
How much of the d-ft er which he is to proceed, according to the 
Communion- form before prescribed for the holy Communion, 

office to be used. heginning at these WQrds [" y e that do truly, &C.] 

§. 2. And if the sick person is visited, and re- 
visitation-office ceiveth the holy Communion all at one time ; 
at such time may then the Priest, for more expedition, is to cut off 

be omitted. 7 „ _ T7 ..V . 1 1 _ ' >*J 

the jorm oj Visitation at the Fsalm, [In thee, O 
Lord, have I put my trust;] i. e. when he comes to that 
Psalm, he is not to use it, but to go straight to the Commu- 
nion. 

fl * See the third rubric after the Communion-office. 95 See the third rubric at the 
end of the Communion of the Sick. 



SECT. II.] 



OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 



463 



§.3. At the time of the distribution of the holy 
Sacrament, the Priest is first to receive the Com- the Minister is to 
munion himself, and after to minister unto them deliv « the ele- 
that are appointed to communicate with the sick, 
and last of all to the sick person. The Minister, we know, is 
always to receive the Communion himself, before he proceeds 
to deliver it to others : but the reason perhaps why the sick 
man is to receive last, may be, because those who communi- 
cate with him, through fear of some contagion, or the noisome- 
ness of his disease, may be afraid to drink out of the same cup 
after him. 

§. 4. Lastly, because it may happen sometimes 
that a sick person, who desires to receive the Jtr^tiorTfor" 1 " 
Communion, may yet, by some casualty, be hin- those who have 
dered from doing it ; therefore here is a rubric 
added for their comfort, and to remove all fears 
that may arise on such occasions : by which the Curate is di- 
rected, that if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, 
or for ivant of giving learning in due time, or for lack of com- 
pany to receive ivith him, or by any other just impediment, do 
not receive the Sacrament of Christ's body and blood, he is to 
instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and 
steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon 
the cross for him, and shed his blood for his redemption, earn- 
estly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him 
hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the body and 
blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his souVs health, al- 
though he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth. For 
the means, whereby we partake of the benefits of this Sacra- 
ment, is a lively faith : and therefore as our Church asserts in 
her Articles 06 that the wicked, and such as be void of a lively 
faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their 
teeth {as St. Augustine saith) the sacrament of the body and 
blood of Christ ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, 
but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the sign and 
sacrament of so great a thing ; so here she declares, that if a 
sick man be hindered by any just impediment from receiving 
the sacrament of Christ's body and blood ; yet by faith and 
repentance, and by mentally laying hold of the benefits ob- 
tained for him by Christ, he doth eat and drink the body and 

* Article XXIX. 



464 OF THE ORDER FOR THE IcrtAP. xil. 

blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his souVs health, al- 
though he do not receive the sacrament with his mouth. 

§. 5. The last rubric, which is concerning the 
The last rubric. ]^j n j ster ' s communicating alone with the sick 
person, in times of contagious sickness, has already been 
spoken to in §. 4, of the foregoing section. 



CHAPTER XII. 
OF THE ORDER FOR THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 

The care of dead ^ F a ^ our P ra y ers an ^ endeavours for our friend 
bodies an act of prove unavailable for the continuance of his life, 
religion. we mus t w ^ n patience submit to the will of God, 

to whom the issues of life and death belong : and therefore, 
after recommending his soul to God, which immediately upon 
its dissolution returns to him, it is fit we should decently dis- 
pose of his body, which is left to our management and care. 
Not that the dead are any thing the better for the honours 
which we perform to their corpses, (for we know that several 
of the ancient philosophers cared not whether they were bu- 
ried or not ; 1 and the ancient martyrs of the Christian Church 
despised their persecutors for threatening them with the want of 
a grave.) But those who survive could never endure that the 
shame of nature should lie exposed, nor see the bodies of those 
they loved become a prey to birds and beasts. 2 For these 
reasons the very heathens called it a divine institution, 3 and a 
law of the immortal gods. 4 And the Romans especially had a 
peculiar deity to preside over this affair. 5 The Athenians 
were so strict, that they would not admit any to be magis- 
trates, who had not taken care of their parents' sepulture; 6 
and beheaded one of their generals after he had gotten a vic- 
tory, for throwing the dead bodies of the slain, in a tempest, 
into the sea. 7 And Plutarch relates, that before they engaged 
with the Persians, they took a solemn oath, that if they were 
conquerors, they would bury their foes ; this being a privilege 



1 Plato in Phsed. 182. Cicer. Tusculan. Qusest. 2 See. 2 Sam. xx. 10, and Lactant. 
1. 6. 3 Isocrat. Panath. 4 Eurip. in Supplic. Sophocl. in Antigon. & Plut. 
Vit. Numae. 6 Xenoph. Rer. Memorabil. p. 5S7. ? Valer. Max. 1. 9, c. 8. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



465 



which even an enemy hath a right to, as being a debt which 
is owing to humanity. 

§. 2. It is true indeed, the manner of funerals 
has varied according to the different customs of oSy e perfomed 
several countries ; but all civilized nations have 
ever agreed in performing some funeral rites or other. The 
most ancient manner was by burying them in the 
earth; which is indeed so natural, that some ty Z biSyTng imeS 
brutes have been observed, by mere instinct, to which was the 
bury their dead with wonderful care. 8 The SnSS- 
body, we know, was formed of the dust at first, 
and therefore it is fit it should return to the earth as it was ; 9 
insomuch that some heathens have, by the light of reason, 
called burying in the earth, the being hid in our mother's lap, 
and the being covered with her shirt. 10 And that interment, 
or enclosing the dead body in the grave, was used anciently 
by the Egyptians and other nations of the East, is plain from 
the account we have of their embalming, and from their 
mummies, which are frequently found to this day whole and 
entire, though some of them have lain above three thousand 
years in their graves. That the same practice of burying was 
used by the patriarchs, and their successors the Jews, we have 
abundant testimony from the most ancient records in the 
world, the books of Moses ; by which we find that their 
funerals were performed, and their sepulchres provided with 
an officious piety : 11 and that it was usual for parents to take 
an oath of their children (which they religiously performed) 
that they should bury them with their fathers, and carry their 
bones with them, whenever they quitted their land where 
they were. 12 In succeeding ages indeed it be- 
came a custom in some places to burn the bodies A ty S Sning es 
of the dead ; which was owing partly to a fear 
that some injury might be offered them if they were only 
buried, by digging their corpses again out of their graves ; 
and partly to a conceit, that the souls of those that were 
burnt were carried up by the flames to heaven. 13 

§. 3. But though other nations sometimes used Burying always 
interment, and sometimes burning, yet the Jews used by Jews 
confined themselves to the former alone. There andChristians - 

8 Orig. in Cels. 1. 4. ^Elian. Hist. Animal. 5, 49. 9 See Gen. iii. 19. Eccles. xii. 7. 
10 See the Notes upon Grotius de Veritat. Relig. Christian. 1. i. §. 26, p. 40, edit. Cler. 
Amstel. 1709. " Gen. xxiii. 4. xxv. 9. xxxv. 29. xlix. 31. 12 Gen. xlvii. 29, 30, 
31. xlviii. 29 to 33. 1. 25, 26. Exod. xiii. 19. See also Josh. xxiv. 32. Acts vii. 16. Heb. 
xi. 22. 13 piin, Nat . Hist. 1. 7, c. 54. 

2 H 



466 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. in. 



is a place or two indeed in our translation of the Old Testa- 
ment, 14 which might lead us to imagine that the rite of 
burning was also used by them sometimes. But upon con- 
sulting the original texts, and the customs of the Jews, it 
does not appear that the burnings there mentioned were any- 
thing more than the burning of odours and spices about their 
bodies, which was an honour they usually performed to their 
kings. 15 So that, notwithstanding these texts, we may safely 
enough conclude, that interment or burying was the only rite 
with them ; as it was also in after times with the Christian 
Church. For wherever paganism was extirpated, the custom 
of burning was disused ; and the first natural way of laying 
up the bodies of the deceased entire in the grave, obtained in 
the room of it. 

Always per- §* ^' tlJlS UaS aiWavs Deen done SUch 

formed with due solemnity, as is proper to the occasion. Some- 
solemnity, times indeed it has been attended with an ex- 
pensive pomp, that is unseemly and extravagant. But this 
is no reason why we should not give all the expressions of a 
decent respect to the memory of those whom God takes from 
us. The description of the persons who interred our Saviour, 
the enumeration of their virtues, and the everlasting com- 
mendation of her who spent three hundred pennyworth of 
spikenard to anoint his body to the burial, have always been 
thought sufficient grounds and encouragements for the careful 
and decent sepulture of Christians. And indeed, if the regard 
due to a human soul rendered some respect to the dead a 
principle that manifested itself to the common sense of 
heathens, shall we think that less care is due to the bodies of 
Christians, who once entertained a more glorious inhabitant, 
and were living temples of the Holy Ghost ? 16 to bodies which 
were consecrated to the service of God ; which bore their 
part in the duties of religion ; fought the good fight of faith 
and patience, self-denial and mortification ; and underwent 
the fatigue of many hardships and afflictions for the sake of 
piety and virtue ? to bodies which, we believe, shall one day 
be awakened again from their sleep of death ; have all their 
scattered particles of dust summoned together into their due 
order, and he fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ™ as 
being made partakers of the same glory with their immortal 

u 1 Sam. xxxi. 12. Amos vi. 10. 15 See 2 Chron. xvi. 14. xxi. 19. Jer. xxxiv. 5. 

16 1 Cor. vi. 19. 17 Phil. iii. 21. See also 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. 



SECT. I.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



467 



souls, as once they were of the same sufferings and good 
works? Surely bodies so honoured here, and to be so glori- 
fied hereafter, and which too we own even in the state of 
death to be under the care of a divine providence and protec- 
tion, are not to be exposed and despised by us as unworthy 
of our regard. Moved by these considerations, the primitive 
Christians, though they made no use of ointments whilst they 
lived, yet they did not think the most precious too costly to 
be used about the dead. 18 And yet this was so far from being 
reproached with superstition, that it is ever reported as a laud- 
able custom, and such as had something in it so engaging, 
so agreeable to the notions of civilized nature, as to have a 
very considerable influence upon the Heathens, who observed 
and admired it ; it becoming instrumental in the disposing them 
to a favourable opinion at first, and afterwards to the em- 
bracing of the Christian religion, where these decencies and 
tender regards to deceased friends and good people were so 
constantly, so carefully, and so religiously practised. 19 

§. 5. To say exactly what was the Primitive 
Office or Form at the committing a Christian to ThQ *?^i™ m 
the ground, is a difficult matter : but we are sure 
that Psalms were a principal part of it, from the concurrent 
testimonies of ancient writers. 20 Not but that these were ac- 
companied with suitable prayers for the restitution of the de- 
ceased, with praises of those virtues which they were eminent 
for whilst living, and with ample recommendations of their 
good example to those who survived. And how agreeable 
our present office is to this, will be best seen by taking a dis- 
tinct view of its particulars, which I shall now proceed to do 
in the same order that they lie. 

Sect. I. — Of the first Rubric. 

Though all persons are, for decency, and some Christian burial 
other of the reasons that have been mentioned denied to some 
above, to he put under ground ; yet it appears sorts of P ersons - 
by the rubric, (which was prefixed to this office at the last re- 
view,) as well as by the canons of the ancient Church, that 

1S Minut. Felix, c. 12, p. 69. Arnob.l. 5. Clem. Alex. Paedagog. 1. 2, c. 8, p. 176, A. 
19 This was observed by Julian the Apostate, who, writing to an idolatrous high-priest, 
put him in mind of those things by which he thought the Christians gained upon the 
world, and recommends them to the practice of the heathen priests, viz. the gravity of 
their carriage, their kindness to strangers, and their care for the burial of the dead. 
Epist. 49, ad Arsatium. ^ Const. Ap. 1. 6, c. 30, p. 351, 359. Chrvs. Horn. 4, in Ep. 
ad Hebr. torn. iv. p. 453, lin. 35. Concil. Tolet. 3, Can. 22, torn. v. col. 1014, D. 

2 H 2 



468 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CHAP. XII. 



some are not capable of Christian burial. Here it is to 
be noted, that tJie office ensuing is not to be used for any that 
die unbaptized or excommunicate, or liave laid violent hands 
upon themselves. 

As, first, to such L The P ro h ibit i n g tQe Burial-office to be used 
as die unbap- for any of these, is exactly agreeable to the an- 
tlzed ' cient practice of the Church. For, first, in re- 

lation to such as die unbaptized, the first Council of Bracara, 
which was held A. D. 563, determines, that there should be no 
oblations or commemorations made for tlietn, neither should 
tlie office of singing be used at their funerals? 1 Not that the 
Church determines any thing concerning the future state of 
those that depart before they are admitted to baptism : but 
since they have not been received within the pale of the Church, 
we cannot properly use an office at their funeral, which all 
along supposes the person that is buried to have died in her 
communion. 

§. 2. Whether this office is to be used over 
baptized by S the such as have been baptized by the dissenters or 
dissenters are sectaries, who have no regular commission for 

here excluded. / . o 

the administering of the sacraments, has been a 
subject of dispute ; people generally determining on one side 
or the other, according to their different sentiments of the va- 
lidity or invalidity of such disputed baptisms. But I think that 
for determining the question before us, there is no occasion 
to enter into the merits of that cause : for whether the bap- 
tisms among the dissenters be valid or not, I do not appre- 
hend that it lies upon us to take notice of any baptisms, except 
they are to be proved by the registers of the Church. Unless 
therefore we ourselves betray our own rights, by registering 
spurious among the genuine baptisms, persons baptized among 
the dissenters can have no just claim to the use of this office. 
For the rubric expressly declares, that it is not to be used for 
any that die unbaptized: but all persons are supposed to die 
unbaptized, but those whose baptisms the registers own : and 
therefore the registers not owning dissenting baptisms, those 
that die with such baptisms must be supposed to die unbap- 
tized. But indeed the best way to put an end to this contro- 
versy, is to desire those that have separate places of worship, 
to have separate places for burial too ; or at least to be con- 
s' ConciL Bracar. 1, Can. 17, torn v. col. S41, C. 



SECT, I.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



469 



tent to put their dead into the ground, without requiring the 
prayers of a Minister, whose assistance in every thing but in 
this and marriage they neglect and despise. 

II The next persons to whom the Church Second]yj to such 
here denies the office of burial, are those that die as dieexcommu- 
excommunicate ; i. e. those who die excommuni- mcate - 
cated with the greater excommunication, as it is expressed by 
the sixty-eighth canon. And to such as these Christian burial 
has ever been denied by the Catholic Church. 22 The intent 
of which penalty is to bring the excommunicate to seek the 
absolution and peace of the Church, for the health of his soul, 
before he leaves the world ; and if not, to declare him cut off 
from the body of Christ, and by this mark of infamy to dis- 
tinguish him from an obedient and regular Christian. 

§. 2. The learned Mr. Johnson is of opinion, 23 Whether an . so 
that persons notoriously guilty of any of those facto e^comm P u- 
crimes, for which excommunication ipso facto ^manTram^ 6 
is decreed against them by the canons of our Christian burial, 
Church, 24 are really excommunicated, though Jpron^unced 6 
they be not particularly by name published or 
declared to be so ; and that therefore a Minister may refuse 
to bury them, if they die in this condition, and no one be able 
to testify of their repentance. To confirm which, he observes 
from the canonists, that it is a sufficient denunciation, if it 
come to the knowledge of the person excommunicated : 25 so 
that the Curate, who has taken care that his parishioners who 
are guilty of those crimes be made sensible that they are ex- 
communicated by canon, seems to be under no obligation to 
bury them when they are dead. And yet this learned gentle- 
man observes just before, 26 that the judges have declared that 
excommunication takes no effect as to the common law, till it 
be denounced by the Ordinary and Curate of the place where 
the offender lives. He also refers to Lyndwood, 27 to shew, 
that if the fact be not notorious or evident beyond exception, 
then it must be proved, and the sentence passed in the ecclesi- 
astical court, before the criminal be taken for excommunicated 
biforo Ecclesice. Now certainly before he be taken for ex- 
communicated he is not to be denied Christian burial, which 

22 Synes. Ep. 58, p. 203, A. Concil. Bracar. l.Can. 16, torn. v. col. 841, E. Decretal. 
1. 3. Tit. 39, c. 12, et 1. 5. Tit. 53, c. 5. 23 See Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 1S5, 

of the fifth edition. 2 * See Canon II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XII. 

"'> Lyndw. in Gloss. 1. 3, T. 28, c. Seculi Principes v. Excommunicati. 25 Ibid. p. 
2 ^.J *• L. 1, T. 2, Gloss, vers, finem. 



470 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CHAP. XII. 



is treating him as excommunicated. It is true, Mr. Johnson 
is here speaking of a case where the fact is not notorious ; but 
then he goes on to prove from the same author, 23 that though 
the fact he notorious, yet the offender must be publicly de- 
clared excommunicated, before it can be criminal for other 
persons to converse with him. From whence I would infer, 
that so long as he is allowed the conversation of Christians, he 
may also be indulged with a Christian burial. But he further 
observes from the same place in Lyndwood, that when the 
fact is notorious, the Curate of the parish may denounce the 
excommunication, without any special order from his superior. 
If so, then nobody, I suppose, will deny, that, when the Curate 
has denounced it, he is to be refused the use of this office of 
burial by the injunction of the canon, 29 and the rubric before 
us. But the greatest difficulty is in what he asserts in the fol- 
lowing paragraph, viz. That the offender is to be deemed ex- 
communicate, before such publication is made ; which he 
founds upon supposition, that if it were otherwise, there would 
be no difference between Constitutio Sententice latce, and 
Constitutio Sententice ferendce. But, with submission to this 
gentleman, I can conceive a difference between these consti- 
tutions, without deeming an offender excommunicate before 
publication is made. For Constitutio Sententice latce may 
signify, that the criminal, as soon as ever he is convicted and 
found guilty of the crime alleged against him, incurs the 
penalty inflicted by the canon, without any further sentence 
pronounced, than a declaration that he actually is and has 
been under the censure of the said canon : whereas Consti- 
tutio Sententice ferendce may require not only that the cri- 
minal should be convicted, but also that after his conviction 
the sentence should be pronounced solemnly and in form, not- 
withstanding the canon may expressly declare what the pun- 
ishment shall be. And this I take to be the sense in which 
Lyndwood and other lawyers understand it, whom certainly 
we must allow to be the best judges in the case. And this 
will explain what Mr. Johnson observes the canonists say, viz. 
that Excommunicato ipso facto is Excommunicato facta 
nullo ministerio liominis interveniente ; that an ipso facto ex- 
communication is an excommunication that takes effect with- 
out the intervention of any man's ministry. For whenever a 
canon says, that a criminal is ipso facto excommunicated, the 

28 Lyndw. 1. 3, T. 28, vers, finem. 29 Canon LXVIII. 



nrcr. i.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



471 



excommunication takes place as soon as he is tried, and found 
guilty of the crime, without any one's pronouncing any other 
sentence upon him, than that, by virtue of his crime, he is, 
and has been excommunicated by the canon ; and that not 
only from the time that he is proved convict, but from the 
very time that he committed the fault : insomuch that all 
the advantages, penalties, and forfeitures that may be taken 
and demanded of a person excommunicated, may be taken 
and demanded of such a person quite back to the time when 
he committed the fact, for which he is now declared excom- 
municate. But still, though a criminal becomes liable to this 
censure from the very instant he commits the crime ; yet he 
cannot legally be proceeded against, nor treated as excommu- 
nicate, before he is actually convicted and declared so to be. 
It is true the canonists suppose that a man may and ought to 
shun the company of one, whom he knows to have incurred 
excommunication ; but private conversation is what any one 
may withhold from whomsoever he pleases, and what therefore 
a man ought to withhold from such a one as he knows, or be- 
lieves, he is able to convict of having incurred a greater 
penalty. But this does not affect the question between Mr. 
Johnson and me. The question between us is about denying 
a man the sacraments and public offices of the Church, which 
the canonists 30 assert every man may claim, till it appears 
legally that he has forfeited his right to them. And therefore 
(which is the principal point here concerned) no man can be 
refused Christian burial, however subject he may have ren- 
dered himself to an ipso facto excommunication, unless he 
has been formally tried and convicted, and actually pronounced 
and declared excommunicate, and no man is able to testify of 
his repentance. By this clause in the canon, 31 indeed, one 
would be apt to imagine, that if any were able to testify of his 
repentance, the man has a right to Christian burial, though 
his sentence was not reversed : and to some such testimonies 
perhaps it might be owing, that since the Beformation, as well 
as before, commissions have been granted not only to bury 
persons who died excommunicate, but in some cases to absolve 
them, in order to Christian burial. 32 But the rubric speaks 
indefinitely of all that die excommunicate, and so seems to 
include all whose sentence was not reversed in their lifetime, 

so Deer. Par. 2, Caus. 6, Quaest. 2, c. 3, verb, placuit. « Car.on LXVIII. 

32 See Bishop Gibson's Codex, Tit. 23, cap. 2, p. 540. 



472 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. xii. 



without supposing any benefit to be obtained by an absolution 
afterwards. 

Thirdi to such ^ e ^ as * P ersons mentioned in the rubric 

as lay vioient UC we are discoursing of, are such as have laid vio- 
hands upon j en i hands upon themselves ; to whom all Chris- 

tiicmsclvcs 

tian Churches, as well as our own, have ever 
denied the use of this office. 33 And indeed none have been 
so justly and so universally deprived of that natural right which 
all men seem to have in a grave, as those who break this 
great law of nature, the law of self-preservation. Such as 
these were forbid both by Jews and Heathens to be put under 
ground, that their naked bodies might lie exposed to public 
view. 34 And the indignity which (if I mistake not) our own 
laws enjoin to the bodies of those that murder themselves, viz. 
that they shall be buried in the high-way, and have a stake 
drove through them, though it is something more modest, yet 
is not less severe. 

whether a per- §• 2 - This indignity indeed is to be only offered 
son that kills to those who lay violent hands on themselves, 
SoncoSpofmfn- whilst they are of sound sense and mind: for they 
tis, be excluded who are deprived of reason or understanding can- 
by this rubric. con t rac f- any guilt, and therefore it would be 
unreasonable to inflict upon them any penalty. But then it 
maybe questioned, whether even these are not exempted from 
having this office said over them ; since neither the rubric nor 
our old ecclesiastical laws 35 make any exception in favour of 
those who may kill themselves in distraction, and since the 
office is in several parts of it improper for such a case. As to 
the coroner's warrant, I take that to be no more than a cer- 
tificate that the body is not demanded by the law, and that 
therefore the relations may dispose of it as they please. For 
I cannot apprehend that the coroner is to determine the sense 
of a rubric, or to prescribe to the Minister when Christian 
burial is to be used. The scandalous practice of them and 
their inquests, notwithstanding the strictness of their oath, in 
almost constantly returning every one they sit upon to be non 
compos mentis, (though the very circumstances of their mur- 
dering themselves are frequently a proof of the soundness of 
their senses,) sufficiently shew how much their verdict is to be 

33 Vide Concil. Bracar. 1, Can. 16, ut supra, L. L. Edgari, c. 15, in Can. de modo 
imponendi Pcenitentiam. Concil. torn. ix. col. 690, B. 3 * Joseph. Bell. Judaic. 1. 3, 
c. 14. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 36, c. 15. Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. I. 15, c. 10. Servius in ^Eneid. 
12. 35 see Mr. Johnson, A. D. 740, 96, in the CCCC MS. and 963, 24. 



SECT. IT.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



473 



depended on. It is not very difficult indeed to account for 
this : we need only to be informed, that if a man be found 
felo de se, all he was possessed of devolves to the king, to be 
disposed of by the lord almoner, according to his discretion : 
and no fee being allowed out of this to the coroner, it is no 
wonder that the verdict is generally for the heirs, from whom 
a gratuity is seldom wanting. They plead indeed, that it is 
hard to give away the subsistence of a family : but these gen- 
tlemen should remember, that they are not sworn to be cha- 
ritable, but to be just ; that their business is to inquire, not 
what is convenient and proper to be done with that which is 
forfeited, but how the person came by his death ; whether by 
another or himself; if by himself, whether he was felo de se, 
or non compos mentis. As the coroner indeed summons whom 
he pleases on the jury, and then delivers to them what charge 
he pleases, it is easy enough for him to influence their judg- 
ments, and to instil a general supposition, that a self-murderer 
must needs be mad, since no one would kill himself, unless he 
were out of his senses. But the jury should consider, that if 
the case were so, it would be to no purpose for the law to ap- 
point so formal an inquiry. For, according to this supposi- 
tion, such inquiry must be vain and impertinent, since the 
fact itself would be evidence sufficient. It is true indeed, 
there may be a moral madness, i. e. a misapplication of the 
understanding, in all self-murderers : but this sort of madness 
does not come under the cognizance of a jury ; the question 
with them being, not whether the understanding was misap- 
plied, but whether there was any understanding at all. In 
short, the best rule for a jury to guide themselves by in such 
a case, is to judge whether the signs of madness, that are now 
pretended, would avail to acquit the same person of murder- 
ing another man : if not, there is no reason why they should 
be urged as a plea for acquitting him of murdering himself. 
But this is a little wide from my subject : however, it may be 
of use to shew, what little heed is to be given to a coroner's 
warrant, and that there is no reason, because a coroner pros- 
titutes his oath, that the clergy should be so complaisant as to 
prostitute their office. 

Sect. II. — Of the second Rubric. 

Before the burial a short peal is to be rung, 36 A rea itoberun<r 
to give the relations and neighbours notice of the before the Buhaf. 

3 « Canon LXVII. 



474 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CKAP. XII. 



time, and to call them to pay their last attendance to their 
deceased friend. 

§. 2. The time generally appointed for this is 
Th funerak° r ^ ate i n tne evening, from whence the bearers had 
the name of vespillones. And as death is a sleep, 
and the grave a resting-place, the night is not improper for 
these solemnities. The primitive Christians indeed, by reason 
of their persecutions, were obliged to bury their dead in the 
night ; but when afterwards they were delivered from these 
apprehensions, they voluntarily retained their old custom ; 
only making use of lighted torclies, (which we still continue,) 
as well, I suppose, for convenience, as to express their hope of 
the departed's being gone into the regions of light. 37 

§. 3. The friends and relations being assembled 
Se e p™cessToS! together, the body is brought forth, and in some 
places is still, as anciently it was every where, 
laid upon the shoulders of some of the most intimate friends 
of the deceased: 38 though there have generally been some 
particular bearers appointed for this office, who were called 
by the Greeks Koiriwvree, or Ho-maral,™ and vespillones by the 
Latins, for the reasons before named. The body being in a 
readiness, and moving towards the church, the chief mourn- 
ers first, and then all the company follow it in order, intimat- 
ing that all of them must shortly follow their deceased friend 
in the same path of death. 40 

§. 4. But to express their hopes that their 
gh°2i?aS^ais. friend is not lost for ever, each person in the com- 
pany usually bears in his hand a sprig of rose- 
mary : a custom which seems to have taken its rise from a prac- 
tice among the heathens, of a quite different import. For they 
having no thoughts of a future resurrection, but believing that 
the bodies of those that were dead would for ever lie in the 
grave, made use of cypress at their funerals, which is a tree 
that being once cut never revives, but dies away. 41 But 
Christians, on the other side, having better hopes, and know- 
ing that this very body of their friend, which they are now 
going solemnly to commit to the grave, shall one day rise 
again, and be reunited to his soul, instead of cypress, distri- 

37 Chrys. Horn. 4, in Hebr. torn. iv. p. 453, lin. 34, et Horn. 116. Greg. Nyss. in Vit. 
S. Mar.rinae in Append, p. 201, B. Hieron. Ep. 27, de Paula, c. 13. 33 Greg. Naz. 
Orat. 20, torn. i. p. 371, C Greg. Nyss. et Hieron. ut supra. 39 Epist. ad Antiochen. 
Ignat. adscripta, p. SS, edit. Voss. Lond. 1680. Epiphan. Compend. Doctr. Fid. CathoL 
*° Euchol. Graec. per Goar. p. 526. Alex, ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 7. Donat. in Terent. Andr. 
act. 1, seen. 1, p. 20. 41 Plin. 1. 16, c. 33, et Serv. in iEneid. 3, v. 70. See also Ken- 
net's Roman Antiquities, p. 343. 



SECT. Tl.j 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



475 



bute rosemary to the company, which (being always green, 
and nourishing the more for being cropt, and of which a sprig 
only being set in the ground will sprout up immediately, and 
branch into a tree) is more proper to express this confidence 
and trust; 42 a custom not unlike that practised by the Jews, 
who, as they went with a corpse to the grave, plucked up 
every one a handful of grass, to denote that their brother was 
but so cropt off, and should again spring up in his proper 
season. 43 

§. 5. The corpse having been brought in this 
manner or procession to the entrance of the ckriS^meet 
churchyard, or to the church-stile, (as it was the corpse at the 
expressed in king Edward's first book,) the cSS> e ar°d. the 
Priest in his surplice,^ and the Clerks, of whom 
I have spoken before, 45 are ordered by the rubric there to 
meet it ; so that the attendance of the Minister at the house 
of the deceased, and his accompanying it all the way from 
thence, is a mere voluntary respect, which he is at liberty to 
pay or refuse as he pleases. For, as it was expressed in the 
Injunctions of king Edward VI., Forasmuch as Priests be 
public Ministers of the Church, and upon the holy-days ough t 
to apply themselves to the common administration of the whole 
parish ; they are not bound to go to women lying in child-bed, 
except in time of dangerous sichness, and not to fetch any corpse 
before it be brought to the churchyard.^ And so by our present 
canons, 47 the corpse must be brought to the church or church- 
yard, and convenient warning too must be given the Minister 
beforehand, or else there is no penalty lies upon him for either 
delaying or refusing to bury it. 

§. 6. But the corpse being capable of Christian Andt0 gobefore 
burial, and having been brought in due form, it to the church 
and after due notice given, to the entrance ^ or s rave - 
tlie churchyard ; there the Minister must meet it, is and, as the 
present rubric further directs, go before it eitJier into the churchy 
or towards the grave ; i. e. (if I rightly understand the words) 
if the corpse be to be buried within the church, he shall go 
directly thither ; but if in the churchyard, he may first go to 

42 Durand. Rational. Divin. Offic. 1. 7, c. 35, num. 38, fol. 457. 43 See Mr. Gre- 
gory's Sermon on the Resurrection, among his Posthumous Works, p. 70, and Leo Mo- 
dena's Rites of the present Jews, published by Mr. Ockley, page 22 8. 44 See chap. 2, 
sect. 4, p. 102. 45 See page 154. 4 « Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 11. 47 See 
Canon LXVIII. 49 Under pain of suspension from his ministry by the space of 
three months. See Canon LXVIII. 



476 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. XII. 



the grave : 49 for now, according to the general custom, every 

one is at liberty to be buried in which he pleases. 

Tr, ww ~w c And indeed all nations whatsoever, Jews, Hea- 

ln what places . . » 9 

the dead were thens, and Christians, have ever had solemn 

usedtobeburied. placeg get for ^ uge . but j n permitting 

their dead to be buried either in or near their places of wor- 
ship, the Christians differ from both the former. For the 
Jews being forbid to touch or come near any dead body, and 
it being declared that they who did so were denied, had al- 
ways their sepulchres without the city : 50 and from them it is 
probable the Greeks and Romans derived, not only the notion 
of being polluted by a dead corpse, but the law also of bury- 
ing without the walls. 51 For this reason the Christians, so 
long as the law was in force throughout the Roman empire, 
were obliged, in compliance with it, to bury their dead with- 
out the gates of the city : 52 a custom which prevailed here in 
England till about the middle of the eighth century, when 
archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury obtained a dispensation 
from the pope for making churchyards within the walls. 53 
However, that the Christians did not do this out of any belief 
that the body of a dead Christian defiled the place or persons 
near it, may be inferred from their consecrating their old 
places of burial into places of divine worship, and by build- 
ing their churches, as soon as they had liberty, over some or 
other of the martyrs' graves. 54 After churches were built, 
indeed, they suffered no body to be buried in them ; but had 
distinct places contiguous to them appropriated to this use, 
which, from the metaphor of sleep, by which death in Scrip- 
ture is often described, were called KotfirjTrjpia, i. e. cemeteries, 
or sleeping -places. The first that we read of, as buried any 
where else, was Constantine the Great, to whom it was in- 
dulged, as a singular honour, to be buried in the church- 
joorch. 55 Nor were any of the Eastern emperors, for several 
centuries afterwards, admitted to be buried any nearer to the 
church ; for several canons had been made against allowing 
of this to any person, of what dignity soever : 56 and even in 
our own Church we find, that in the end of the seventh cen- 
tury, an archbishop of Canterbury had not been buried within 

49 See more of this below, in sect. IV. 60 See Luke vii. 12. 51 L. L. 12, Tabul 
ut in Alex, ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 2. 52 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 10. Vide et Baron. Annal 
torn. ii. ad ann. 130. 53 See Godwin's Life of Cuthbert. 54 Chrys. torn. v. Horn. 
6i Chrys. Horn. 26, in 2 Cor. torn. iii. page 687. Callisth. Hist. Eccl. 1. 14, c. 58, torn 
ii. page 5S2, B. 56 Concil. Bracar. Can. 18, tom. v. col. 842. Concil. Nannetens 
■c. 6, et Concil. Tribur. Can. 17. 



SECT. III.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



477 



the church, but that the porch was full with six of his prede- 
cessors that had been buried there before. 57 By a canon made 
in king Edgar's reign, about the middle of the tenth century, 
" no man was allowed to be buried in the church, unless it 
were known that he had so pleased God in his lifetime, as to 
be worthy of such a burying-place ; " 58 though above a hundred 
years afterwards we meet with another canon, made at a 
council at Winchester, that seems again to prohibit all corpses 
whatsoever, without any exception, from being buried in 
churches. 59 But in later times, every one, that could pay for 
the honour, has been generally allowed it ; but since all can- 
not purchase it, nor the churches contain all, there is a ne- 
cessity of providing some other conveniences for this use. 
And this has generally been done, as I observed before, 
by enclosing some of the ground round the church, for a 
burying-place, or churchyard ; that so, as the faithful are 
going to the house of prayer, they may be brought to a fit 
temper and disposition of mind, by a prospect of the graves 
and monuments of their friends : nothing being more apt to 
raise our devotion, than serious thoughts upon death and 
mortality. I need not say now whether the church or church- 
yard be the most ancient and proper place for burial; nor 
have I any thing left to say further on this head, than that 
in whichever the grave is, the Priest is to go before, and to 
lead the company thither, and to conduct, and introduce, as 
it were, the corpse of the deceased into its house of rest. 

Sect. III. — Of the Se?ite?ices to be used ingoing to the Clmrch, 
or the Grave. 

Since the following a dear and beloved friend e . 

, L ° A . The Sentences. 

to the grave must naturally raise m us some 
melancholy and concern, the Church calls in the aids of re- 
ligion to raise and cheer our dejected hearts. It was with 
this design that pious antiquity carried out their dead with 
hymns of triumph, as conquerors that had gloriously finished 
their course, and were now going to receive their crown 
of victory. 60 To this end again were those hallelujahs 
sung of old, as they went to the grave ; 61 a custom still 
retained in many parts of this nation, where they divert the 
grief of the friends and mourners by singing psalms from the 
house to the very entrance of tlie churchyard. And here the 

57 See Bishop Godwin's Life of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. 5S Mr. John- 
son's Laws, 960, 29. 59 Ibid. 1071, 9. c° Chrys. Horn. 4, in Ep.'ad Hebr. 
« Hieron. ad Eustoch. Ep. 27, et ad Ocear.um, Ep. 30. 



478 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. xii. 



holy man comes forth to meet us, and immediately salutes us 
with the gospel of peace. And indeed whither should we go 
for consolations on this occasion, but to that storehouse of 
comfort, which is furnished with remedies for every grief? 

Johnxi 25 26 ^* ^ e begins w * tn tne wor( ^ s which were 
o nxi. - , . S p k en at fi rst foe blessed Jesus, as he was 

going towards the grave of a beloved friend, with intent to 
comfort a pious mourner ; words so proper to the occasion, 
that they have been used in the Burial-office of almost all 
Churches whatever. 63 Poor Martha's affection and sorrow for 
her brother had almost swallowed up her faith in Jesus, and 
it is not unusual for the same passions still to prevail to the 
same excessive degree : but our Lord here comforts both her 
and us, by reminding us of his omnipotence, and absolute 
power to raise the dead, and restore them to life, as well in a 
natural as a spiritual sense. If then we can recover but the 
exercise of our faith, we shall be much more at ease ; as re- 
membering that the soul of our deceased friend, though parted 
from his body, is still alive, and that even his corpse, which 
we follow, shall live again as soon as ever Christ shall call it. 

II. As a noble example of the exercise of that 
Job X1 27. 25 ' 26, faith, which the foregoing sentence was designed 
to raise in us, Job is proposed to us in this that 
follows. And surely if he, who lived among the Gentiles so 
long before the revelation of Christianity, could sustain his 
spirit with the hopes of a resurrection ; it will be no small re- 
proach to us, who have fuller and better assurances of it, to 
be slower in our belief of this article than he. The old trans- 
lation of these verses in Job, (which was retained in our office 
till the last review, when from the Scotch Liturgy it was 
changed for the new one,) as it was more agreeable to the 
ancient versions and the sense of the Fathers, so was it more 
applicable to the present occasion. The words, as they stood 
then, ran as follow : Iknoiv that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
I shall rise out of the earth in the last day, and shall be covered 
again ivith my skin, and shall see God in my Jlesh ; yea, and 
I myself shall behold him, not with other, but with these same 
eyes. Thus the Fathers read it, and accordingly explained it 
of a particular resurrection of this very body. 63 And in this 
sense it is an admirable consolation to all that mourn for the 

S2 Aug. Verb. Apost. Serm. 35. Durand. Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Eucholog. Offic. 
Exequ. pag. 527. 63 Chrys. et Hieron. in loc. Aug. de Civ. Dei, 22, 29, et Serm. 
2, tie Nat. Dom. 



SECT. III.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



479 



loss of friends, viz. to believe with holy Job, that the same 
person we are now laying in the earth, there to crumble and 
moulder into dust, shall in due time, by the power of God, 
arise from his grave, and live again. We lose indeed the sight 
of him for a season, but we know that Jesus our Redeemer 
liveth, who will in due time raise us all from the dust, when 
both our friend and we shall all behold him, and even know 
and distinguish each other again with these very eyes. 

III. The next grace to be exercised at this 
time is patience, which, upon these occasions, is 1 T ™^Y '<!{ and 
often violently assaulted by worldly consider- 
ations : for when we reflect on our own loss in being deprived 
of a friend ; or descend lower, to reflect upon the comforts of 
the world which he hath left behind him, our passions are apt 
to overflow. But here a third sentence comes in to allay both 
these griefs. We have lost, perhaps, a tender, dear, and use- 
ful friend : but what then ? we brought no friends with us into 
the world, nor can we carry them out from hence. They 
were given us by God, who can raise up others in their stead ; 
and they are taken away by him, to wean our affections from 
any thing here. We should therefore rather bless the Giver 
for the time we have enjoyed them, than murmur at his 
taking them, after he has lent them us so long. 

Again, as to our friend, it is true, he is going naked to the 
grave : but alas ! he goes no otherwise than he came : for 
(saith the Wise Man) as he came forth of his mother's icomu, 
naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing 
of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. 65 He 
shall carry nothing away with him (saith the Psalmist) ichen 
he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him. 6 * Whatever he 
had, or possessed here, was only useful to him so long as he 
stayed : where is the misfortune then, if, upon removing from 
hence, he leaves that behind him, which will be of no service 
to him in the place he is going to r Whilst he was engaged on 
this stage of the world, God furnished him with a habit suit- 
able to the part which he expected him to perform : shall any 
of us therefore think it strange, that the actor is undressed 
when his part is done ? In a word, let us consider ourselves 
under what character we please, there is still the same reason 
to join with the holy penmen in these noble reflections ; We 
brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry 

65 Eccl. 5. 15. 66 Psalm xlix. 17. 



480 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. xtj. 



nothing out ; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord. 

Sect. IV. — Of the Psalms and Lessons. 

Psalms always THOUGH joy, at the first glance, may Seem Un- 

used at Christian suitable to a funeral solemnity; yet, upon due 
funerals. reflection, we shall be of another opinion. The 

wiser sort of heathens bury their dead with expressions of 
joy, lamenting themselves for staying behind, whilst their 
friend is gone to be immortalized above. 67 And that hymns 
and psalms were always used upon the like occasions by the 
primitive Christians, is abundantly testified by the ancient 
writers. 63 In the Greek Church the order is much the same 
as in ours, viz. that ivhen they come into the church, the body 
shall be set down in the lower end thereof and then they shall 
begin the ninetieth psalm.** This, together with the thirty- 
ninth, are what our own Church uses on this occasion ; both 
which will appear, upon a little reflection, to be exactly 
agreeable to this solemnity. 

Psalm xxxix §* ^ e thirty-ninth Psalm is supposed to 
* " have been composed by David, upon Joab's re- 

proaching him for his public grief for Absalom's death ; and 
is of use in this place, to direct and comfort those that mourn, 
to check all loud and unseemly complaints, and to turn them 
into prayers and devout meditations. 

Psalm xc §' ^" ^ e otner was com P ose( i by Moses in 
samxc. wilderness, upon the death of that vast mul- 

titude, who, for their murmuring and infidelity, were sen- 
tenced to leave their carcasses in the wilderness ; and who ac- 
cordingly wasted by little and little before they came into the 
land of Canaan. Upon this the prophet breaks forth into 
these religious meditations, not accusing the divine provi- 
dence, but applying all to the best advantage ; shewing us 
withal what thoughts we should entertain, when we have the 
prospect of a funeral before our eyes ; viz. that we should re- 
flect upon, and consider our own lot, and endeavour to apply 
the instance of mortality now before us, to the bettering and 
improving of our own condition. 

In the first book of king Edward, instead of the Psalms of 

67 Porphyr. de Abst. L 4, §. 18. Polydor. Virg. de Invent. 1. 6, c. 10. 63 Hieron. 
de Morte Fabiolae. Chrys. Ep. iv. in Ep. ad Hebr. Anton, in Fun. Paul. Erem. apud 
Kieron. 69 Eucbolog. Offic. Exeq. 526. 



EECT. IV.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



481 



which we have now been speaking, there were three others 
appointed, viz. the cxvith, the cxxxixth, and cxlvith. And 
when they were left out at the next review, there were no 
other whatever ordered in the room of them, till these were 
inserted at king Charles's restoration. 

II. After the Psalms out of the Old Testament, TheLesson 
follows the proper Lesson out of the New: for since 
the faith of the resurrection is not only the principal article of a 
Christian's belief, but also the article which chiefly concerns us 
on this occasion, (as well to allay our sorrow for the party de- 
ceased, as to prepare us freely to follow him when God shall call 
us ;) therefore the Church has chosen here the fullest account 
of the resurrection of the dead that the whole Scripture affords ; 
that article being here so strongly proved, so plainly described, 
and so pertinently applied, that nothing could have been more 
suitable to the present purpose ; for which reason we find it 
has always been used in this office of the Church. 70 

§. 2. The Psalms and Lesson in king Edward's 
first Liturgy are followed by some other suf- Jeirinwhat 6 
frages (which I have printed in the margin *) in sense used in 
behalf of the deceased ; how far, and in what comnfon^ayer, 
sense, prayers for the dead were used by the 

* The Lesson ended, then shall the Priest say- 
Lord have mercy upon us. 
Christ have mercy upon us. 
Lord have mercy upon us. 
Our Father which art in heaven, &c. 
And lead us not into temptation. 

Answ. But deliver us from evil. Amen. 

Priest. Enter not (O Lord) into judgment with thy servant. 

Answ. For in thy sight no living creature shall he justified. 

Priest. From the gates of hell, 

Answ. Deliver their souls, O Lord. 

Priest. I believe to see the goodness of the Lord, 

Answ. In the land of the living. 

Priest. O Lord, graciously hear my prayer, 

Answ. And let my cry come unto thee. 

Let us pray. 

O Lord, with whom do live the spirits of them that he dead ; and in whom the souls 
of them that he elected, after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh, be in joy 
and felicity : Grant unto this thy servant, that the sins which he hath committed in this 
world be not imputed unto him, but that he, escaping the gates of hell, and pains of 
eternal darkness, may ever dwell in the regions of light, with Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
cob, in the place where there is no weeping, sorrow, nor heaviness : and when that 
dreadful day of the general resurrection shall come, make him to rise also with the just 
and righteous ; and receive this body again to glory, then made pure and incormptible : 
set him on the right hand of thy Son Jesus Christ, among thy holy and elect, that then 
he may hear with them these most sweet and comfortable words : Come to me, ye blessed 
of my Father, possess the kingdom which hath been prepared for you from the begin- 
ning of the world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus 
Christ our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. 

to Durand. Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Man. Sarisb. fol. 107. 
2 i 



482 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CHAP. XII. 



primitive Church, I have already had occasion to shew. 71 And 
how different the prayers for departed souls, in our first Com- 
mon Prayer Books, were from those which the Church of 
Home makes use of, and how inconsistent with their doctrine 
of Purgatory, may be gathered from the paragraph which I 
there transcribed out of the old prayer for the whole state of 
Christ's Church ; and will further appear from this prayer in 
the Burial-office, which I have here inserted, as well as from 
others which I shall have occasion to transcribe by and by. 
All therefore I shall say in reference to them here, shall be 
only to note once for all, that whatever in that book related 
directly and immediately to the dead was all thrown out of the 
second Liturgy, at the instance of Calvin and his old friend 
Bucer. There was one clause indeed permitted to stand till 
the last review, viz. in the prayer that immediately follows the 
Lord's Prayer, in which, till then, we prayed, that, we with 
this our brother, and all other departed in the true faith of 
God's holy name, might have our perfect consummation and 
bliss, kc. Nor did the Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference 
make any other objection against this clause, than what they 
did in general against all that expressed any assurance of the 
deceased party's happiness, which they did not think proper 
to be said indifferently over all that died. 72 ' However, upon 
the review of the Common Prayer afterwards, these words 
were left out. Not but that the sentence, as it is still left 
standing, may well enough be understood to imply the dead 
as well as the living : for we pray (as it is now) that we, with 
all those that are departed in the true faith of God's holy 
name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss ; which 
is not barely a supposition, that all those who are so departed 
mill have their perfect consummation and bliss ; but a prayer 
also that they may have it, viz. that we with them, and they 
with us, may be made perfect together, both in body and soul, 
in the eternal and everlasting glory of God. For "though 
(saith bishop Cosin upon this very prayer) the souls of the 
faithful be in joy and felicity ; yet because they are not in 
such a degree of that joy and felicity, as that they can never 
receive no more than they have already; therefore in the 
latter part here of this our prayer, we beseech God to give 
them a full and perfect consummation of bliss both in body 

71 See ch. VI. §. XI. p. 283. 72 See their Exceptions against the Book of Common 
Prayer, page 31, 4to, 1661, or in Baxter's Narrative of his own Life, page 332. 



SECT. IV.] 



EURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



483 



and soul, in Ms eternal kingdom of glory, which is yet to 
come. And whatsoever the effect and fruit of this prayer 
will be, though it be uncertain ; jet hereby we shew that 
charity which we owe to all those that are fellow-servants 
with us to Christ ; and in this regard our prayers cannot 
be condemned, being neither impious nor unfit for those 
that profess the Christian religion. For in like manner, 
if I should make a prayer to God for my father or mother, 
for my brother or sister, for my son or daughter, or any other 
friend of mine who were travelling in a journey, beseeching 
him that he would prosper them in their way, and keep them 
from all danger and sickness, till they should safely and hap- 
pily arrive at their journey's end, and the place where they 
desire to be ; although at the same time, when I prayed this 
for them, peradventure they be arrived at the place already 
(which I knew not) with all safety, and met with no danger 
or diseases by the way, whereby all my prayer is prevented ; 
yet the solicitude and charity, in the mean while, that I had 
for them, cannot be justly or charitably reprehended by any 
others." 73 Much to the same purpose just before : "Although 
(saith he) it cannot be exactly and distinctly declared what 
benefit the dead receive by these prayers which the living 
make for them : yet if there be nothing else, there is this at 
least in it, that hereby is declared the communion and con- 
junction which we have still with one another, as members of 
! the same body whereof Christ is the head." 74 So also before 
1 him bishop Overal, in his notes upon this same place : " The 
Puritans (saith he) think that here is prayer for the dead 
allowed and practised by the Church of England ; and so 
think I : but we are not both in one mind for censuring the 
Church for so doing. They say it is popish and superstitious ; 
I for my part esteem it pious and Christian. The body lies 
dead in the grave, but by Christ's power and God's goodness 
shall men be raised up again ; and the benefit is so great, 
that sure it is worth the praying for : because then we may 
pray for what we ourselves or our deceased brethren as yet 
have not, therefore doth the Church pray for the perfect con- 
summation of bliss, both in sold and body , to be given to our 
brethren departed. We believe the resurrection: yet may 
pray for it as we do for God's kingdom to come. Besides, 
prayer for the dead cannot be denied but to have been uni- 

73 See the Additional Notes to Dr. Nichols on the Common Prayer, p. 65. W Ibid. p. <i£. 

2 I 2 



484 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap. xit. 



versally used of all Christians in the ancientest and purest 
state of the Church, and by the Greek Fathers, who never ad- 
mitted any purgatory, no more than we do, and yet pray for 
the dead notwithstanding. What though their souls be in 
bliss already ? they may have a greater degree of bliss by our 
prayers : and when their bodies come to be raised, and joined 
to their souls again, they shall be sure of a better state. Our 
prayers for them then will not be in vain, were it but for that 
alone." 73 But to return. 

The Psalms and ^' ^ ^ e ^ rst C° mmon Prayer, both the 
LessonTwhether Psalms and Lesson, with the suffrages above 
omJte°d be mentioned, were to be said in the church either 
before or after the burial of the corpse. But 
from that time to the restoration of king Charles, the Lesson 
(for I have observed during all that time there were no 
Psalms) was appointed to be read wherever the grave was, 
whether in the church, or churchyard, immediately after the 
sentence taken out of the Revelation. But the Presbyterians 
objecting that this exposed both Minister and people to many 
inconveniences, by standing in the air, 76 there was a rubric 
added at the last review, which orders, that the Psalms and 
Lesson shall be said after they are come into the church : so 
that now, I suppose, it is again left to the Minister's discretion 
(as it was in the rubric of the first book of king Edward) 
whether he will read them before or after the burial of the 
corpse. For the second rubric at the beginning of the office 
permits him to go to the church or to the grave, i. e. to either 
of them directly, which he pleases : nor is there any further 
direction, that if he goes into the church, it shall be before 
he goes to the grave : but only that after they are come into 
tlie church, one or both of the Psalms shall be read with the 
Lesson that follows ; and when they come to the grave, the 
rest of the devotions that are to be used. 

I know some are of opinion, that the design of the rubrics, 
as they are worded now, is to give liberty to the Minister to 
go immediately to the grave, and so wholly to omit the Les- 
son and Psalms: but if that were the design of them, one 
would have expected some hint that they might be omitted ; 
whereas the expression in the rubric, after they are come into 
the church, seems to suppose that either first or last they will 



See the Additional Notes to Dr. Nichols on the Common Prayer, p. 64. 
70 See Exceptions, as before. 



SECT. V.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



485 



come thither. I am therefore rather inclined to think, that 
the meaning of leaving the rubric so dubious is, that if the 
Minister go directly into the church, the grave being there, 
he should use the Psalms and Lesson before the burial : but 
if the grave be -without the church, he may first go thither to 
bury the corpse, and then afterwards, to prevent any incon- 
veniency from the air, proceed to the church itself, to read 
the Psalms and Lesson, according to the rubric in the first 
Common Prayer. For I do not know any instance in the 
whole Liturgy besides, where the Minister is at liberty to leave 
out so considerable a part of an office, when it is so proper to 
be used. But I only give this as my private opinion : for I 
know it belongs to a much higher authority to appease diver- 
sity, and to resolve doubts concerning the manner how to un- 
derstand, do, and execute the things contained in this book."'' 1 

Sect. V. — Of the Devotions and Solemnity to be used at the Grave. 

I. When the body is stript of all but its grave- 
attire, and is just going to be put into the ground, T at Se d grave n 
it is most like to make the deepest impression 

upon us, and to strike us with the most serious apprehensions 
of our mortality. This happy opportunity the Church is un- 
willing to lose ; and therefore, whilst we are in such good dis- 
positions of mind, she presents us with a noble strain of 
devotion, consisting of a meditation on the shortness, and 
misery, and uncertainty of life, together with an acknowledg- 
ment of our dependence on God, whom yet we have dis- 
obliged and offended with our sins. However, we presume 
to fly to him for succour, and beg of him to preserve us from 
eternal death hereafter, and to support us under the pains oi' 
temporal death here. 

II. Next after this follows the solemn inter- 
ment : immediately before which the Gentiles Th e f S b?dyf Ve 
took their leave of their deceased friends, by bid- 
ding them Farewell for ever.™ And the ancient Christians 
used to give a parting kiss of charity, just as the body was 
about to be put into the grave, to declare their affection, and 
evidence that he died in the unity and peace of the Church, 79 
a custom still retained in the Greek Church , so and in some of 
the northern parts of England. 

77 See the Preface concerning the Service of the Church. 73 Virg. JEn.11, v. 97. 
Alex, ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 7. 79 Dionys. Areop. a. 7, p. 150, A. Durand. Rational. 1. 7 
B. 35. so Eucholog. p. 535. 



486 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[chap, xii 



The position of §• 2 -. As for the posture or position of the 
the corpse in the corpse in the grave, it hath been always a custom 
grave ' to bury them with their feet eastward, and their 

face upwards, that so at the resurrection they may be ready 
to meet Christ, who is expected from the east, and that they 
may be in a posture of prayer as soon as they are raised. 81 
The throwing §• 3. ^ ne castm g earth upon the body was 
earth upon the esteemed an act of piety by the very heathens ; 82 
bodj ' insomuch that to find a body unburied, and leave 

it uncovered, was judged amongst them a great crime. 83 In 
the Greek Church this has been accounted so essential to the 
solemnity, that it is ordered to be done by the Priest himself. 84 
And the same was enjoined by our own rubric in the first 
Common Prayer of king Edward VI. But in our present Li- 
turgy it is only ordered that it shall be cast upon the body by 
some standing by : and so it is generally left to one of the 
bearers, or sexton, who, according to Horace's description, 85 
gives three casts of earth upon the body or coffin, whilst the 
Priest pronounces the solemn form which explains the cere- 
mony, viz. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

§. 4. And indeed the whole form of words, 
which the Priest is to use whilst the ceremony is 
performed, is very pertinent and significant.* 
The phrase of committed his body to the ground, implies, 
that we deliver it into safe custody, and into such hands as 
will faithfully restore it again. We do not cast it away as a 
lost and perished carcass ; but carefully lay it in the ground, 
as having in it a seed of eternity, and in sure and certain 
hope of the resurrection to eternal life : not that we believe 
that every one we bury shall rise again to joy and felicity, or 
profess this sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the 
person that is now interred. It is not his resurrection, but 
the resurrection, that is here expressed ; nor do we go on to 
mention the change of his body, in the singular number, but 
of our vile body, which comprehends the bodies of Christians 
in general. That this is the sense and meaning of the words, 
may be shewn from the other parallel form which the Church 

* In the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. the beginning was different 
from what it is now — " Then the Priest, casting earth upon the corpse, shall say, I 
commend thy soul to God the Father Almighty, and thy body to the ground, earth to 
earth," &c. 

si Durand. ut supra. 82 jEHan. Var. Hist. 1. 5, c. 14. 83 Horat. 1. 1, Od. 28, 
V. 36. 84 Goar. Eucholog. Offic. Exeq. p. 538. 83 Injecto ter pulvere. Horat. 
ut supra. '•. 



The form of 
words. 



SECT. V.] 



•BURIAL; OF THE DEAD. 



487 



has appointed to be used at the burial of the dead at sea* 
And this being a principal article of our faith, it is highly- 
reasonable that we should publicly acknowledge and declare 
our steadfastness in it, when we lay the body of any Christian 
in the grave. 

III. After the foregoing form follows a conso- The Sentence 
latory sentence from Rev. xiv. 3, to he said by out of the Reve- 
the Priest alone, or to be sung by him and the atlon ' 
Clerks together. The propriety of it to the present solemnity 
occasioned its being used in the Western Church many centu- 
ries ago. 86 It is a special revelation that was made to St. John, 
and ordered to be recorded for ever by him, to be a perpetual 
consolation in relation to the state of departed saints. For 
since Jesus hath now conquered death, from henceforth bless- 
ed are the dead which die in the Lord. They are no more 
to be lamented, but to be the subjects of our joy. The Spirit 
assures us that they rest from their labours, their work is done, 
their warfare accomplished, and now they enjoy crowns of vic- 
tory as the rewards of their pains. 

IV. But though the deceased rest from their 
labours, yet we are in the midst of ours : and T p e ra ^? s 
therefore in the next place we proceed to pray 

for our own salvation, and the consummation of our own hap- 
piness, beginning first (as in most other offices) with the lesser 
Litany and Lord's Prayer. 

V. After this follow two other Prayers; in each Thetwo ra . ers 
of which there is such a noble mixture of acts of 

faith and hope concerning the state of our deceased friend, 
and of prayers and petitions for our happiness with him, as, 
being duly attended to, will effectually pacify that unnecessary 
grief, which is pernicious to ourselves without benefiting the 
deceased ; and will turn our thoughts to a due care of our 
own souls, in order to our meeting again, with infinitely more 
joy, than we now part with sorrow and grief. 

§.2. Against the last of these prayers it is often 
objected that we make declaration of hope that ty°s P saivatioii?" r ~ 
all we bury are saved. In order to appease the cesLinylmpiies" 
scruples about which, as far as the nature of the 

* We therefore commit his body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for 
the resurrection of the body (vrhen the sea shall give up her dead) and the life of the 
world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who at his coming shall change our vile 
body, &c. 

£ s Durand Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Man. Sarisb. fol. 137, Szc. 



488 



OF THE ORDER FOR THE 



[CHAP. XII. 



expression will bear, we desire it may be considered, that 
there are very different degrees of hope, the lowest of which 
is but one remove from despair. Now there are but very few 
with whom we are concerned, that die in a state so utterly 
desperate, as that we may positively affirm they are damned ; 
which yet we might do, did we absolutely and entirely despair 
of their salvation. It remains, therefore, that we must have 
some, though very faint hopes of their salvation: and this 
seems sufficient to warrant this declaration, especially if it be 
pronounced as faintly as the hope itself is entertained. How- 
ever, it must be confessed, that it is very plain, from the whole 
tenor of this office, that the compilers of it, presuming upon 
a due exercise of discipline, never supposed that any would 
be offered to Christian burial, who had not led Christian lives. 
But since iniquity hath so far prevailed over the discipline of 
the Church, that schismatics, heretics, and all manner of vi- 
cious livers, escape its censures, this gloss seems the best that 
our present circumstances will admit of. And if it be not 
satisfactory, there seems to be no other remedy left, than that 
our governors should leave us to a discretionary use of these 
expressions, either till they be altered by public authority, or, 
which is much rather to be wished, till discipline be so vigor- 
ously exercised, that there be no offence in the use of them. 
_ , ■ „ 3. The prayer, against which this objection 

Celebration of ■ 3 j ■ ■ J 6 . ^ -r» t>i 

the Communion is made, is m our present Common rrayer JLJook 
m e f riylp a Jointed cane( ^ Collect : the reason of which is, because 
in king Edward's first book, at the end of the 
Burial-office, there is an order for the celebration of the holy, 
Communion when there is a burial of the dead. The forty- 
second Psalm is appointed for the introit. The prayer I am 
now speaking of, with a little alteration at the end, which I 
shall give by and by, stands there for the Collect ; 1 Thess. 
iv. 13 to the end, is ordered for the Epistle ; and for the Gos- 
pel, St. John vi. 37 to 48. 

Receiving the Eucharist at funerals is not without prece- 
dents in the ancient Church. 87 Bishop Cosin was of opinion, 
that " the design of it was to declare, that the dead person de- 
parted out of this life in the public faith and unity of the Ca- 
tholic Church of Christ.' From whence, saith he, we learn * 

57 Vide Concil. Carthag. Can. 44, ap. Bevereg. Pandect. Can. vol. i. p. 5G7, et vol. ifc 
p. 207. Aug. de Funere Matris suae Monicse, Lib. Confess. 9, c. 12, et Possid. de 
Morte et Funere August, in eiusdem Vita. 



SECT. V.] 



BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 



469 



what the reason was, that Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, 
so much desired to be remembered at the altar after her death T 
which was not (as the fond and ignorant sort of people amom: 
the new Roman Catholics imagine) to fetch her soul so much 
the sooner out of purgatory, (for the papal purgatory fire was 
not then kindled or known ;) but partly to testify her faithful 
departure in the religion and communion among all other gooif 
Christians ; and partly to have praise and thanksgivings render- 
ed to Almighty God, for her happy departure out of this work! 
to a better ; and partly also, that by the prayers of the Church,, 
made at the celebration of the holy Eucharist, and by virtue 
of Christ's death and sacrifice therein commemorated, she 
might obtain a joyful resurrection of her body out of the 
grave, and have her perfect consummation of glory, both in 
body and soul, in God's everlasting kingdom."* 8 " Innocent 
(saith Mr. L'Estrange) was this rite, whilst it preserved its 
first intent : but it degenerating from its original purity, by 
masses and dirges sung for the souls of the dead, wisely was 
it done of our second Reformers, to remove not only the evils 
themselves of such heterodox opinions, but even the occasions 
of them also, viz. the Communion used at Burials." 89 Which 
being so evident as to matter of fact, (for the second book of 
king Edward was published without it,) it may seem some- 
thing strange, how it came to be reprinted in the Latin trans- 
lation of queen Elizabeth's Common Prayer Book, in the 
second year of her reign. That this was not a translation of 
a private pen not licensed by authority, and so the effect of 
mistake, or a clandestine practice, (as bishop Sparrow conjec- 
tures, 90 ) is plain from its being done by the command of the 
queen, and by her recommendation of it to the two Univer- 
sities, and to the colleges of Winchester and Eton : and par- 
ticularly by the express words of her Majesty's proclamation, 
wherein she declares, that some things peculiar at the funerals 
of Christians she had added and commanded to he used, the 
Act for Uniformity, set forth in the first year of her reign, to- 
the contrary notwithstanding ? x Perhaps it might have been 
ordered for the same reason that I have supposed the reserv- 

8S See Bishop Cosin's Note upon this Collect, in Dr. Nichol's Additional Notes, p. 65. 
As also another Note of Bishop Overal's to the same purpose, in the same piace. 
89 Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 303. 9 J See the Bishop's Answer to some Liturgical 
Demands, at the end of his Rationale on the Common Prayer, §. 10. 91 Peculiarim 
quaedam in Christianorum Fimerihus et Exequiis decantanda adjungi prapcipimus, 
Sfatuto de Ritu Puhlicarum Precum, anno primo Regni nostri promulgato, in con- 
trariuin non obstante. Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 202. 



490 OF THE ORDER. FOR THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. [chap. xii. 



ation of the elements was allowed, or indulged to those learned 
societies by the same book, 92 viz. because they were in less 
danger of abusing it, and it might contribute to reconcile them 
the easier to the Reformation. 

I have already hinted that the close of the prayer, which is 
called the Collect in our present office, was different, as it 
stood in the first Common Prayer, from what it is now. The 
present conclusion of it was taken from the end of another 
prayer, which was then in this office ; but of which the be- 
ginning has ever since been left out : but the best way to give 
the reader a clear notion of it, is to transcribe the prayers at 
the bottom of the page, whither therefore I refer him.* 

§.4. The blessing was added at the end of the 
e essmg. w jj i e ffi ce a t the last review, of which enough 
has been said in other places. 

The peal §' ^ e wno ^ e solemnity is concluded with 

another peal, which the same canon 93 orders 
after the Burial, that appoints one before it. 

* After the sentence, " I heard a voice from heaven," &c. folloAvcd, 
" Let us pray. 

"We commend into thy hands of mercy, (most merciful Father,) the soul of this our 
brother departed, N. And his body we commit to the earth, beseeching thine infinite 
goodneis to give us grace to live in thy fear and love, and to die in thy favour : that 
•when the judgment shall come, which thou hast committed to thy well-beloved Son, 
both this our brother, and we, may be found acceptable in thy sight, and receive that 
blessing which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear 
thee, saying, Come ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for 
you before the beginning of the world. Grant this, merciful Father, for the honour of 
Jesus Christ our only Saviour, Mediator, and Advocate, Amen. 

"This Prayer shall also be added. 

" Almighty God, we give thee hearty thanks for this thy servant, whom thou hast 
delivered from the miseries of this wretched world, from the body of death, and all 
temptation ; and, as we trust, has brought his soul, which he committed into thy holy 
hands, into sure consolation and rest. Grant, we beseech thee, that, at the day of 
judgment, his soul and ail the souls of thy elect, departed out of this life, may with us, 
and we with them, fully receive thy promises, and be made perfect altogether, through 
the glorious resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 

These were the two prayers which were then used instead of the Prayers that are 
used at present : the last of which was then the Collect appointed for the Communion- 
office, except that instead of the latter part of it, which we see was the conclusion of 
another form in king Edward's book, it ended thus : 

" And that, at the general resurrection in the last day, both we and this our brother 
departed, receiving again our bodies, and rising again in thy most gracious favour, 
may, with all thy elect saints, obtain eternal joy. Grant this, O Lord God, by the 
means of our Advocate Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and 
reigneth one God for ever. Amen." 

u2 See Appendix to chap. XI. sect. I. §. 2, page 459. & Canon LXVIL 



ihtrod.] THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 



491 



CHAPTER XIII. 

OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN AFTER 
CHILDBIRTH, COMMONLY CALLED THE 
CHURCHING OF WOMEN. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 
One would think that, after an office for the ^ 
Burial of the Dead, no other should be expect- the office for the 

Burial 
Dead. 



ed ; and yet we see here another rises to our B 



view, which the Church has appointed for the use 
of such women as have been safe delivered from the great 
pain and peril of childbirth, and which she has placed in her 
Liturgy after the office foregoing, to intimate, as it were, that 
such a woman's recovery is next to a revival or resurrection 
from the dead. For indeed the birth of man is so truly won- 
derful, that it seems to be designed as a standing demonstra- 
tion of the omnipotence of God. And therefore that the 
frequency of it may not diminish our admiration, the Church 
orders a public and solemn acknowledgment to be made on 
every such occasion by the woman on whom the miracle is 
wrought: who still feels the bruise of our first parent's fall, 
and labours under the curse which Eve then entailed upon 
her whole sex. 

§ 2 As to the original of this custom it is not Theoriginalofit . 
to be doubted, but that as many other Christian 
usages received their rise from other parts of the Jewish eco- 
nomy, so did this from the rite of Purification, which is en- 
joined so particularly in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus. 
Not that we observe it by virtue of that precept, which we 
grant to have been ceremonial, and so not now of any force ; 
but because we apprehend some moral duty to have been im- 
plied in it by way of analogy, which must be obligatory upon 
all, even when the ceremony is ceased. The uncleanness of 
the woman, the set number of days she is to abstain from the 
tabernacle, and the sacrifices she was to offer when she first 
came abroad, are rites wholly abolished, and what we noways 
regard : but then the open and solemn acknowledgment of 
God's goodness in delivering the mother, and increasing the 
number of mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of 



492 



OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN 



[chap. xiii. 



the world. And therefore though the mother be now no 
longer obliged to offer the material sacrifices of the law, yet 
she is nevertheless bound to offer the evangelical sacrifice of 
praise. She is still publicly to acknowledge the blessing 
vouchsafed her, and to profess her sense of the fresh obliga- 
tion it lays her under to obedience. Nor indeed may the 
Church be so reasonably supposed to have taken up this rite 
from the practice of the Jews, as she may be, that she began 
it in imitation of the blessed Virgin, who though she was ra- 
ther sanctified than defiled by the birth of our Lord, and so 
had no need of Purification from any uncleanness, whether 
legal or moral, yet wisely and humbly submitted to this rite, 
and offered her praise, together with her blessed Son, in the 
temple. 1 And that from hence this usage was derived among 
Christians, seems probable, not only from its being so univer- 
sal and ancient, that the beginning of it can hardly any where 
be found : 2 but also from the practice of the Eastern Church, 
where the mother still brings the child along with her, and 
presents it to God on her churching-day. 3 The Priest indeed 
is there said to purify them : and in our first Common Prayer, 
this office with us was entitled The Order of the Purification 
of Women. But that neither of these terms implied, that the 
woman had contracted any uncleanness in her state of child- 
bearing, may not only be inferred from the silence of the of- 
fices both in the Greek Church and ours in relation to any 
uncleanness ; but is also further evident from the ancient laws 
relating to this practice, which by no means ground it upon any 
impurity, from which the woman stands in need to be purged.' 1 
And therefore, when our own Liturgy came to be reviewed, to 
prevent all misconstructions that might be put upon the word, 
the title was altered, and the office named (as it is still in our 
present Common Prayer Book) The Thanksgiving of Women 
after Childbirth, commonly called The Churching of Women. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubric before the Office. 

The woman to be In tne Greek Church, the time for performing 
churched at the this office is limited to be on the fortieth day 

1 Vide Chrysost. et Theophylact. in Luc. ii. 22. 2 vide Dionys. Alexandr. Can. 2, 
apud Bevereg. Concil. torn. ii. pag. 4. Novel. Const. Leon. Aug. Novel. 17, ap. Balsam, 
in loc. Dionysii ap. Bever. ut supra. Can. Pcenitent. Greg. 3, cap. 30, Biblioth. Patr. 
torn. vi. Honorius Colitar. LI, c. 146, ut citat. ap. Goar. in Eucholog. See also Pope 
Gregory's Answer to the Eighth Question of Augustin the Monk, in Mr. Johnson, 
A. D. 601, 8, §. 2. 3 Vide Simeon. Thessalonic. in Not. ad Eucholog. p. 329. 4 See 
the places cited above, note 2 - 5 Simeon. Thessalonic. ut supra. 




IECT. I.] 



AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 



493 



and therefore the office with them is called, The usual time after 
Prayer for a woman forty days after child- the delivei 'y- 
bearing? But in the West the time was never strictly deter- 
mined, as will appear from the Salisbury Manual, which was 
of use here in England before the Reformation, where the old 
rubric runs thus : Note, That ivomen after childbirth may 
come to church, and, giving thanks, be purified whenever they 
will, and they are not guilty of any sin in so doing : neither is 
the entrance of the church to be denied them, lest we turn their 
punishment into a crime ; but if, out of reverence, they will 
abstain for some time, their devotion is not to be disallowed? 
And as this was consonant to the ancient canons of the Church, 
in relation to this affair, so is it agreeable to our present ru- 
bric ; which does not pretend to limit the day when the woman 
shall be churched, but only supposes that she will come at 
the usual time after her delivery. The usual time is now 
about a month : for the woman's weakness will seldom permit 
her coming sooner. And if she be not able to come so soon, 
she is allowed to stay a longer time ; the Church not expect- 
ing her to return her thanks for a blessing before it is received. 

§. 2. It is only required that whenever she The office to be 
does it, she shall come into the church. And always perform- 
this is enjoined, first, for the honour of God, ed inthechurch - 
whose marvellous works in the formation of the child, and 
the preservation of the woman, ought publicly to be owned, 
that so others may learn to put their trust in him. Secondly, 
that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for 
praising God for the too much forgotten mercy of their birth. 
And, thirdly, that the woman may in the proper place own the 
mercy now vouchsafed her, of being restored to the happy pri- 
vilege of worshipping God in the congregation of his saints. 

How great therefore is the absurdity which The absurdity of 
some would introduce of stifling their acknow- being churched 
ledgments in private houses, and of giving thanks at home * 
for their recovery and enlargement in no other place than 
that of their confinement and restraint ! a practice which is 
inconsistent with the very name of this office, which is called 
The Churching of Women, and which consequently implies 
a ridiculous solecism of being churched at home. Nor is it 
any thing more consistent with the end and devotions pre- 



c Eucholog. p. 324. 
l>ost part. p. 37, b. 



7 Manual Sarisb. Rubric, post Officium Benedict. Mulier. 



494 



OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN 



[CKAP. XIII 



scribed by this office, than it is with, the name of it. For with 
what decency or propriety can the woman pretend to pay her 
vows in the presence of all God's people, in the courts of the 
Lord's house, when she is only assuming state in a bedcham- 
ber or parlour, and perhaps only accompanied with her mid- 
wife or nurse ? To give thanks therefore at home (for by no 
means call it churching') is not only an act of disobedience to 
the Church, but a high affront to Almighty God ; whose mercy 
they scorn to acknowledge in a church, and think it honour 
enough done him, if he is summoned by his Priest to wait on 
them at their houses, and to take what thanks they will vouch- 
safe him there. But methinks a Minister, who has any re- 
gard for his character, and considers the honour of the Lord 
he serves, should disdain such a servile compliance and sub- 
mission, and abhor the betraying his Master's dignity. Here 
can be no pretence of danger in the case, should the woman 
prove obstinate, upon the Priest's refusal, (which Ministers 
are apt to urge for their excuse, when they are prevailed upon 
to give public baptism in private ;) nor is the decision of a 
Council wanting to instruct him (if he has any doubts upon 
account of the woman's ill health) that he is not to perform 
this office at home, though she be really so weak as not to be 
able to come to church? For if she be not able to come to 
church, let her stay till she is : God does not require any 
thanks for a mercy before he has vouchsafed it : but if she 
comes as soon as her strength permits, she discharges her 
obligations both to him and the Church. 
The woman to §• ^- When the woman comes to this office, 
be decently ap- the rubric (as it was altered at the last review) 
pareiied. directs that she be decently apparelled, i. e. as 

the custom and order was formerly, with a white covering, or 
veil. And we find that as late as in .the reign of 
Veil meriy f ° r ~ king James I., an order was made by the chancel- 
lor of Norwich, that every woman who came to 
be churched should come thus apparelled ; an order it seems 
so well founded upon the practice of the Church, that a woman 
refusing to conform with it was excommunicated for contempt. 
And though she prayed a prohibition, and alleged in her de- 
fence, that such order was not warranted by any custom or 
canon of the Church of England, yet she got no relief; for 
the judges desiring the opinion of the archbishop of Canter- 

8 Concil. 3, MedioL cap. 5, ap. Biniurn, torn. iv. par. 2, p. 417, edit. Col. Agrip. 16 IS, 



SECT. I.] 



AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 



495 



bury ; and he, together with several other bishops, whom he 
convened to consult upon it, certifying that it was the ancient 
usage of the Church of England for women to come veiled, 
who came to be churched ; a prohibition was refused her. 9 
But that custom having now for some time been discontinued, 
long enough I suppose to make it obsolete, I take the decency 
of the woman's apparel to be left entirely to her own dis- 
cretion. 

§. 4. The woman being come into the church 
decently apparelled, must there kneel down in ere nee ' 
some convenient place, as has teen accustomed. To know 
where that is, it is necessary that we look back into the Old 
Common Prayer Books. King Edward's first Liturgy says, 
in some convenient place, nigh unto the quire-door, which is 
still rendered plainer by all the other Common Prayer Books 
from that time till this present one, which say it must be nigh 
unto the place where the Table standeth, i. e. to be sure, at 
the rails of the Communion Table, or where she is to kneel if 
she receives the Communion, which the last rubric of this 
office declares it is convenient she should do, if there be any 
Communion in the church at that time. And that this same 
place is meant by our present rubric, which orders her to 
kneel in some convenient place, as lias been accustomed, is 
evident, because we see that was the accustomed and appoint- 
ed place, when these words were put in. It is true, the Pres- 
byterians, at the Conference in the Savoy, objected against the 
rubric as it was worded then : And in regard that the woman's 
kneeling near the table was in many churches inconvenient, 
they desired thai those words might be left out; and that the 
Minister might perform that service in the desk or pulpit. 10 
And it is also true, that these words were accordingly left out, 
and the rubric altered thus, viz. that the woman should kneel 
in some convenient place, as has been accustomed, or as the 
Ordinary shall direct. But yet it is plain, that wherever the 
Ordinary does not otherwise direct, the woman is still to 
kneel in the accustomed place. And that the accustomed 
place, till the last review, was nigh unto the place where the 
table standeth, I have shewed before. And that no alteration 
was then designed, is further evident beyond contradiction, 
from the answer which the Bishops and the other Episcopal 



9 Bishop Gibson's Codex, tit. 18, cap. 12, p. 451. 10 Proceedings of the Commis- 
sioners, &c, p. 37, quarto, 1661. 



49G 



OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap. xiii. 



Commissioners gave to the aforesaid exception of the Pres- 
byterians, viz. It is fit that the woman 'performing especial 
service of thanksgiving should have a special place, where she 
may be perspicuous to the whole congregation ; and near the 
holy Table, in ragard of the offering she is there to make. 
They need not fear Popery in this, since in the Church of 
Home she is to hneel at the church-door. u So that the reason, 
I presume, of their altering the rubric was not to give the 
Ordinary a general power to change the accustomed place, 
where there was no occasion ; but because in some places the 
churches were so inconveniently built, that by the interposi- 
tion of a belfry between the church and the chancel (as I have 
observed elsewhere 12 ) the Minister could not be heard out of 
the chancel into the church ; therefore the Ordinary should, 
in such cases, have power or authority to allow the woman to 
be churched in some other place. Just as I have shewed he 
has power, 13 in the same case, to order the Morning and Even- 
ing Prayer to be read where he pleases. But where there is no 
such impediment, or at least where the Ordinary has not other- 
wise enjoined, there to be sure this office is to be performed, 
oven by virtue of this rubric, at the Communion Table or Altar. 

m what part of §• 5 ' In what P art of the service this office is 
the service to be to come in, the rubric does not say : but by some 
performed. Q j d ^ rt i c i es of Visitation, which the bishops used 
to make the subject of their inquiry, it appears to have been 
used just before the C ommunion- office : 14 and no one, I be- 
lieve, will deny, that it is more regular there, than when it 
interrupts the ordinary service, as it does when it is used 
either just before or just after the general Thanksgiving ; or 
than when it is performed in the midst of the hurry and noise 
of the people's going out of church, as it is when it is deferred 
till the whole service is done. All the difficulty that lies 
against confining it to be used just before the Communion- 
office is, that no woman could then be churched but on a Sun- 
day or a holy-day, when that office is to be read. But to this 
it may be answered, that if she could not, the inconvenience 
would not be great : and therefore since most of the other oc- 
casional offices of the Church are supposed to be performed 
on Sundays and holy-days, why should not this ? If I judge 

11 Proceedings of the Commissioners, &c.,p. 128, quarto, 1661. 12 Chap. II. sect. 
V. p. 108. 13 Ibid. 14 Bishop of Norwich's Articles, 1536, as cited in the Addi- 
tional Notes of Dr. Nichols, p. 66. 



SECT. II.] 



AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 



497 



right from the rubric at the end of this office, it is so sup- 
posed ; for it is there said, that if there he a Communion, it 
is convenient that the woman receive it. Now there can 
never be a Communion, but when the Communion-office is 
read ; and therefore since the Church supposes there may be 
a Communion when the woman is churched, she seems to 
make no doubt but that she will come to be churched on some 
Sunday or holy-day when that office is appointed ; though if 
she come upon an ordinary week-day, the Communion may 
be administered if she desires to receive, and then she may be 
churched regularly at the holy Table, before the Communion- 
office begins. 

Sect. II. — Of the Devotions. 

I. It is a common defect in all other Liturgies, 
that they have no prefaces to introduce the several 
offices, and to prepare the parties concerned to do their duties 
with understanding. But it is the peculiar care of the Church 
of England to instruct us how to do every duty, as well as to 
assist us in the doing it. Hence the daily prayers begin with 
an exhortation, as do most of the other offices of the Church. 
Even this short one is not without a suitable preface directed 
to the woman, whereby the Priest first excites her to a thank- 
ful acknowledgment for the mercy she has received, and then 
directs her in what words to perform it. 

II. The Psalm appointed on this occasion, in 

all the Common Prayer Books till the last re- PsaimcSl' 
view, was the cxxist,* which with the cxxviiith 
was also prescribed by the office used in the Church of Rome. 
But neither of these is so very apt to the case, as those are 
which we have now. The first of which, though composed 
by David upon his recovery from some dangerous sickness, 
is yet, by leaving out a verse or two, which makes mention 
of the other sex, easily enough applicable to the case of a 
woman, who comes to give her thanks for so great a deliver- 
ance. 

2. The other more regards the bir,th of the „ . 

, P. , , . p, , Psalm cxxvn. 

child, and is very seasonable to be used when- 
ever it is living, to excite the parents to the greater thankful- 
ness. And as the first is most proper, when we respect the 
pain and peril which the mother has gone through, so the last 

* The Scotch Liturgy orders the cxxist, or the xxviith. 



498 



OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap. xm. 



ought to be used when an heir is born, or a child bestowed on 
those who wanted and desired one. Nor may it less aptly be 
used when those of meaner condition are churched : for by 
enlarging on the blessings of a numerous family, it obviates 
the too common murmurings of those wretches who think 
themselves oppressed by such an increase. 

The woman to §' ^' k ere ^ tne Wa y ^ e woman should 

repeat after the observe, that she is to say the following Psalm 
Sbie voice* an °^ Thanksgiving, i. e. she is to repeat it with an 
audible voice, as she does the daily confession, 
after the Minister. For the Psalm is properly applicable to 
her alone ; and the Minister reads it, not upon his own ac- 
count, but only to instruct and lead the woman, by going be- 
fore her, and, as it were, putting into her mouth what words 
she must say. 

The Lord's ^ ne ^ S3 ^ m being over, the Minister gives 

Prayer, and Re- notice that another part of duty, viz. prayer, is 
sponse B . beginning : in which by the usual form, Let us 

pray, he calls upon the whole congregation to join : and that 
the address may be humble, it is begun with the short Litany, 
Lord have mercy upon us, &c. That it may also be effectual, 
it is continued in the Lord's Prayer, (to which the Doxology 
was added at the last review, by reason of its being an office of 
thanksgiving :) and that all may bear a part, two or three short 
Responses are added for the woman's safety and defence. 15 

The Prayer ^ ' at * aSt ^ e wno ^ e O^ce IS closed with 

a short and pious Collect, consisting of a devout 
mixture of prayer and praise, so peculiarly suited to the 
present occasion, that it needs no enlargement to shew its 
propriety.* 

Sect. III. — Of the last Rubric. 
The office being thus devoutly performed, the 

The -woman for- , . , • ,• ° ,1 , .-, 1 7 

meriy to offer her rubric gives notice, that the woman who comes 
why ™' and i0 y' we ^ ier ^ mn ^ s mus t offer accustomed offer- 
ings. By the first Common Prayer of king Ed- 
ward VI. the woman that was purified, was to offer her 
chrisom and other accustomed offerings. And by a rubric in 
the same book, at the end of the public office of Baptism, the 
Minister was to command, at the time of baptism, that the 

* In all former books, the Collect began thus : " O Almighty God, which hast de- 
livered, this woman," &c. 

15 Psalm lxxxvi. 2. lxi. 3. Ixii. 1. 



SECT. III.] 



AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 



499 



chrisom be brought to the church, and delivered to the Priests, 
after the accustomed manner, at the purification of the mother 
of every child. The chrisom, I have formerly had occasion to 
shew, 16 was a white vesture or garment, which was put upon 
the child at the time of its baptism, as a token of innocency, 
and which took its name from the chrism or ointment, with 
which the child was anointed when the chrisom was put on. 
These, I have observed, it was the custom anciently for the 
new-baptized to appear in at church during the solemn time 
for baptism, to shew their resolution of leading an innocent 
and unspotted life for the future, and then to put them off, and 
to deliver them to be laid up, in order to be produced, as evi- 
dences against them, should they afterwards violate or deny 
that faith which they had then professed. 17 And this, I sup- 
pose, was the design of our own Church at the beginning of 
the Reformation, in ordering the woman to offer the chrisom 
when she came to be churched. Tor if the child happened to 
die before, then it seems she was excused from offering it ; 
and indeed there was then no occasion to demand it, since it 
would be of no use to the Church when the child was dead. 
And therefore in such case it was customary to wrap the child 
in it when it was buried, in the nature of a „ , nr . 

• -r .Lhe word Cnn- 

shroud. And from this practice I suppose the somsmthe 
name of chrisoms had its rise in the weekly bills SenSthad its 
of mortality, which we may still observe among rise, and what it 
the casualties and diseases : though it is not now should si s nif y- 
used to denote children that die between the time of their 
baptism and their mother's being churched, as it originally 
signified ; but, through the ignorance of parish clerks, and 
those that make the report, is put for children that die before 
they are baptized, and so are not capable of Christian burial. 

§. 2. But to return to the rubric. The Li- Accustomed of . 
turgy having been altered in the fifth year of ferings, what 
king Edward, the use of the chrisom at the bap- the y are - 
tism of the child was then discontinued ; and in consequence 
thereto, the order for the woman's offering it at her church- 
ing was then left out : so that now she is directed only to offer 
accustomed offerings* i. e. those offerings w r hich were cus- 

* In the Scotch Liturgy the order for offerings is entirely left out ; the -whole of the 
rubric being this that follows : " The woman that cometh to give her thanks, it is con- 
venient that she receive the holy Communion, if there be any at that time." 

16 See chap. VII. sect. III. p. 353, 354. " See chap. V. sect. XVIII. XIX. page 
231, &c. 13 Gregory's Posthumous Works, chap. xxii. p. 10S. 

2 E 2 



500 



OF THE COMMIXATIOX. 



[chap. xit. 



tomary besides the chrisom, and which, when the chrisom 
was in use, was distinguished in the rubric by other accustom- 
ed offerings. By which undoubtedly is to be understood 
some offering to the Minister who performs the office, not 
under the notion of a fee or reward, but of something set 
apart as a tribute or acknowledgment due to God, who is 
pleased to declare himself honoured or robbed according as 
such offerings are paid or withheld. 19 We see under the law, 
that every woman who came to be purified after childbearing, 
was required to bring something that put her to an expense r 
even the poorest among them was not wholly excused, but 
obliged to do something, though it were but small. And 
though neither the kind nor the value of the expense be now- 
prescribed ; yet sure the expense itself should not covetously 
be saved : a woman that comes with any thankfulness or gra- 
titude should scorn to offer what David disdained, viz. of that 
which costs nothing. And indeed with what sincerity or truth 
can she say, as she is directed to do in one of the Psalms, I 
will id ay my vows now in the presence of all his people, if at 
the same time she designs no voluntary offering which vows 
were always understood to imply ? 

§. 3. But, besides the accustomed offering to 
receivetheTcom- the Minister, the woman is to make a yet much 
E^one 11 ' ^ there better and greater offering, viz. an offering of 
herself, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sa- 
crifice to God. For the rubric declares, that if there be a 
Communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy Com- 
munion ; that being the most solemn way of praising God for 
him by whom she received both the present, and all other 
God's mercies towards her : and a means also to bind herself 
more strictly to spend those days in his service, which, by this 
late deliverance, he hath added to her life. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
OF THE COMMUTATION. 

THE INTRODUCTION. 
The preface which the Church has prefixed to 
this office will supply the room of an introduc- 
tion. It informs us, that in the primitive Church 

19 Malachi iii. 8. 20 Leviticus xii. 6, &:c. 



The occasion 
and design of 
this office. 



IN1K0DUCTIOX.] 



OF THE COMM1NATION. 



501 



there 'was a godly discipline ; that at the beginning of Lent, 
such persons ivho stood convicted of notorious sins ivere put to 
open penance, and punished in this world, that their souls 
might be saved in the day of the Lord ; and that others, ad- 
monished by their example, might be the more afraid to offend. 
How and in what manner this discipline was inflicted, I have 
formerly had occasion to shew ; 1 so that I have nothing fur- 
ther to observe in this place, than that it was anciently exer- 
cised in our own as well as in foreign churches. 2 But in lat- 
ter ages, during the corruption of the Church of Rome, this 
godly discipline degenerated into a formal and customary 
confession upon Ash- Wednesdays, used by all persons indif- 
ferently, whether penitents or not, from whom no other testi- 
mony of their repentance was required, than that they should 
submit to the empty ceremony of sprinkling ashes upon their 
heads. But this our wise reformers prudently laid aside as a 
mere shadow or show ; and not without hearty grief and con- 
cern, that the long continuance of the abominable corruptions 
of the Romish Church, in their formal confessions and pre- 
tended absolutions, in their sale of indulgences, and their sor- 
did commutations of penance for money, had let the people 
loose from those primitive bands of discipline, which tended 
really to their amendment, but to which, through the rigour 
and severity it enjoins, they found it impracticable to reduce 
them again. However, since they could not do what they 
desired, they desired to do as much as they could : and there- 
fore till the said discipline may be restored again, (which is 
rather to be wished than expected in these licentious times,) 
they have endeavoured to supply it as well as they were able, 
by appointing an office to be used at this season, called A 
Commination, or denouncing of God's anger and judgments 
against sinners : that so the people being apprized of God's 
wrath and indignation against their wickedness and sins, may 
not be encouraged, through the want of discipline in the 
Church, to follow and pursue them : but be moved by the 
terror of the dreadful judgments of God, to supply that disci- 
pline to themselves, by severely judging and condemning 
themselves, and so to avoid being judged and- condemned at 
the tribunal of God. 

§. 2. But besides the first day of Lent, on How often, and 

' Chap. V. sect. XI. §. 2, p. 219, 220. 2 Canones R. Edgar. A. D. 9G7, ap. Spelm. 
torn, i. p. 460. 



502 



OF THE COMBINATION. 



[chap, xi „ 



upon what occa- which it is expressly enjoined, it is also supposed 

sions to be used. j n the fife of j fc t6 be uged ^ Q(her as fa 

Ordinary shall direct. This was occasioned by the observa- 
tion of Bucer: for it was originally ordered upon Asli-Wed- 
nesdays only ; and therefore in the first Common Prayer 
Book it had no other title but The first day of Lent, com- 
monly called Ash- /Wednesday. But Bucer approving of the 
office, and not seeing reason why it should be confined to one 
day, and not used oftener, at least four times a year, 3 the title 
of it was altered when it came to be reviewed ; from which 
time it was called A Commination against Sinners, with cer- 
tain Prayers to he used diverse times in tlw Year. How 
often, or at what particular times, we do not find prescribed ; 
except that bishop Cosin informs us, from the Visitation Arti- 
cles of archbishop Grindal for the province of Canterbury in 
the year 1576, that it was appointed three times a year; viz. 
on one of the three Sundays next before Easter, on one of the 
two Sundays next before Pentecost, and on one of the two 
Sundays next before Christmas ; 4 i. e. I suppose the office 
was appointed yearly to be used on these three days, as well 
as on Ash-JVe'dnesday. For that Ash- Wednesday was then 
the solemn day of all, and on which this office was never to 
be omitted, may be gathered from the Preface, which is drawn 
up for the peculiar use of that day. And accordingly we find 
that in the Scotch Common Prayer a clause was added, that 
it was to be used especially on the first day of Lent, com- 
monly called Asli-lVednesday . However, in our own Li- 
turgy, the title stood as above till the last review, when a 
clause was added for the sake of explaining the word Com- 
mination ; and the appointing of the times, on which it should 
be used, left to the discretion of the Bishop, or the Ordinary. 
So that the whole title, as it stands now, runs thus : A Co:,r- 
jiination, or Denouncing of God's Anger and Judgments 
against Sinners, with certain prayers to he used on the first 
day of Lent, and at other times, as the Ordinary shall ap- 
point. The Ordinaries indeed seldom or never make use of 
the power here given them, except that sometimes they ap- 
point part of the office, viz. from the fifty-first Psalm to the 
end, to be used upon solemn days of fasting and humiliation. 
But as to the whole office, it is never used entirely but upon the 
day mentioned in the title of it, viz. The first day o/"Lent. 

8 Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 491. 4 See Dr. Nichols's Additional Notes, p. 66. 



SECT. I.] 



OF THE COMMUTATION. 



503 



Sect. I. — Of the Rubric before the Office. 

This rubric was, in all our former Common Th ; soffice tobe 
Prayer Books, expressed a little differently from said after the Li- 
what it is now: After Morning Prayer, the tany ended * 
People being called together by the ringing of a Bell, and 
assembled in the Church, the English Litany shall be said after 
the accustomed manner ; ivhich ended, the Priest shall go into 
the pulpit, and say thus, [the People sitting and attending with 
reverence .*] This I have formerly had occasion to shew was 
owing to the Litany's being a distinct service by itself, and so 
used sometimes after Morning Prayer was over. 5 But it now 
being made one office with the Morning Prayer, and so both 
of them read at one and the same time, the rubric only directs, 
that after Morning Prayer, the Litany ended according to 
the accustomed manner, this office shall ensue ; i. e. after the 
whole Litany has been concluded as usual, with The general 
Thanksgiving, the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and The Grace 
of our Lord, &c, and not (as I have observed some to bring it 
in) immediately after the Collect, We humbly beseech thee, O 
Father, &c. For till the three forementioned prayers have 
all of them been used, the Litany is not ended according to 
the accustomed manner. For the Thanksgiving being to be 
used before the two final prayers of the Litany, 
must certainly make a part of the Litany. And ^^SJ^df 
if the prayer of St. Chrysostom, and The Grace 
of our Lord, &c, be the two final prayers of that office, then 
sure this office cannot be concluded without them. But what 
I think clearly puts this matter out of doubt, are four words 
that immediately follow The Grace of our Lord, &c, viz. Here 
endeth the Litany ; from whence, one would think, any man 
might conclude that it is not ended before. 

S. 2. The name of a reading -pew was never rp te j n t ^ e 
mentioned in our Liturgy till the last review, (the reading-pew or 
reason of which I have largely given before ; 6 ) for pulpit - 
by this rubric, till the Restoration, the Priest was to go into 
the pulpit, and say the following Preface and Exhortation. 
And indeed that is a place not improper for the office, since 
the Denouncing of God's Judgments is as it were preaching 
of his word. And it is certain that the pulpit was at first de- 

* The words within the crotchets [ ] were only in the Scotch Liturgy. 
• See chap. IV. Introduction, §. V. p. 1G5. Sec chap. I£. sect. V. page 108, &c. 



501 



OF THE COMMINATION. 



[CHAP. XIV, 



signed, not only for preaching, but for any thing else that 
tended to the edification of the people. There the Lord's 
Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, were for- 
merly appointed to be read to the people in English on every 
holy-day in the year, when there was no Sermon to hinder it :~ 
and there also at the beginning of the Reformation, whilst the 
Romish Mass was continued till the English Liturgy could be 
prepared, the Epistle and Gospel for the day, with a Lesson 
out of the New Testament in the morning, and another out of 
the Old Testament in the afternoon, was read to the people in 
the English tongue. 8 However, reading-pews having been 
generally brought into use before the Restoration, it was not 
then thought proper to confine the use of this office any longer 
to the pulpit, but to allow it to be said as the Minister should 
think proper, either there or in the reading-pew. 

Sect. II. — Of the Preface, Denunciation, or Application. 

The Preface ^* ^° ^ T ' m S tne minds of the congregation into 
k ie ace. a ser i ous composure, the office is introduced with 
a grave and solemn preface ; by which the Church informs 
them, in the first place, of the ancient discipline, and then pro- 
poses to them the best means to supply it. The ancient dis- 
cipline, she tells them, was to put those to open shame, who 
by any notorious sins had given public scandal and offence. 
By which means both the souls of those that sinned were often 
rescued from damnation, and others also, being admonished 
by their example, were deterred from incurring the same dan- 
ger or punishment. But as this discipline is now lost through 
the degeneracy of the times, and even beyond retrieval as 
affairs stand now, she proposes that the congregation would 
supply it to themselves, by hearing the curses which God has 
denounced against impenitent sinners ; by which means, as in 
a glass, each one will be able to discern his own sins, and the 
curses he is exposed to ; the serious prospect of which will be 
apt to awaken them from their thoughtlessness and security, 
and to put them upon flying from such imminent danger, by 
having recourse to a speedy repentance. 
The Sentences ^~^ e or ^g ma ^ °f repeating the curses, in the 

manner we now use them, was a positive and 
divine institution, which twice enjoined it by Moses, 9 and in 

7 Injunctions of king Edward VI. in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 3, and Injunc- 
tions of queen Elizabeth, ibid. p. G8. s King Edward's Injunctions, ibid, page 7, f 
u Deut. xi. 29, and chap, xxvii. 



SECT. II.] 



OF THE COMBINATION. 



505 



obedience to which we find Joshua afterwards most religiously 
observed it. 10 And Josephus also reckons it amongst those 
things which the Jews always used to perform. 11 And though 
the circumstances in the Jewish manner of reciting these 
curses were purely ceremonial, yet doubtless the end for which 
this duty was prescribed was truly moral. For to publish the 
equity and truth of God, and to profess our belief that his 
laws are righteous, and the sanctions thereof just and certain, 
is an excellent means of glorifying God, and a proper method 
for converting of sinners. So that it cannot be unfit for the 
Gospel-times, nor at all unsuitable to our Christian worship ; 
especially when the necessities of the Church require the sin- 
ner should be warned and brought to repentance. Christ in- 
deed hath taken away the curse of the Law, by being himself 
made a curse for us ,- 12 but this is only with respect to those 
that truly repent ; for as to all others the curse stands in full 
force still. It is therefore fit, that all should declare their be- 
lief of the truth and reasonableness of these curses : the good 
man, to own what his sins had deserved, and to acknowledge 
his obligation to our Lord for redeeming him ; the bad man, 
to awaken him from his security and ease, and to bring him 
to repentance before it be too late. 

5. 2. For this reason all the people, as those 

°, n , 7 L Amen, what it 

sentences are read, are to answer and say, at signifies at the 
the end of each of them, Amen. The end of ™* c f s these sen " 
which is not that the people should curse them- 
selves and their neighbours, as some have foolishly imagined ; 
but only that they should acknowledge they have deserved a 
curse. For it is not here said, Cursed be he, or may he be 
cursed ; but, Cursed is he, or lie is cursed, that is guilty of 
any of these sins. And consequently any one that answers 
Amen, does not signify his desire, that the thing may be so, 
as he does when he says Amen to a prayer ; but only signifies 
his assent to the truth of what is affirmed, as he does when 
he says Amen to the Creed. It is used in this place in no other 
sense than it is in several parts of the New Testament, where 
it is translated Verily, and signifies no more than Verily it is 
true. The man that says it, verily believes that idolaters, and 
all those other kinds of sinners that are mentioned in these 
sentences, are all exposed to the curse of God ; and his be- 
lieving this is the cause of his repentance, and begging pardon 

M Joshua viii. S3 11 Antiq. 1. 4, c. ult. 12 Gal. iii. 13. 



506 



OF THE COMBINATION. 



[chap. xiv. 



for his sins ; since he must be a desperate sinner indeed, that 
will not fly from such vices, for which he affirms with his own 
mouth so great and heavy a judgment to be due. In short, 
these curses, and the answers that are made to them, are like 
our Saviour's woes in the Gospel ; not the causes or procurers 
of the evil they denounce ; but compassionate predictions of 
it in order to prevent it. And one would indeed think, when 
we consider that this manner of answering was originally ap- 
pointed by God himself, people should be cautious how they 
charge it with being a wicked or foolish institution. But to 
proceed. 

.. „ III. Having heard to what sins the curse of 

Ihe application. ^ -, ■ -, , r /-n i i i 

God is due, the Church has too much reason to 
conclude, that we are all of us guilty of more or fewer of 
them, and consequently all of us in danger of God's wrath, 
except we repent. To excite us therefore to so necessary a 
duty, that so we may escape those dreadful judgments, she 
hath collected a pious and pathetical discourse, to set home 
the foregoing denunciations to our conscience. It is all of 
it gathered from the holy Scriptures, that it may be more 
regarded, as coming directly from the word of God ; and is 
so methodical and apt to the occasion, that the fault must be 
in the hearers, if the delivery of it be not attended with a 
happy effect. 

Sect. III. — Of the Penitential Devotions. 
bit I. After so serious and rational a discourse, 

Psalm u. , ~ . . 

the Church may justly suppose that we are ail 
resolved to repent ; and therefore, to assist us in so necessary 
a duty, she hath prepared such penitential devotions, as will 
be very suitable to our pious resolutions : and that they may 
be said with a greater humiliation and reverence, all the 
people are to kneel upon their knees, and the Priests and 
Clerks to kneel in the place where they are accustomed to 
say the Litany.™ And here they are to begin with David's 
Litany, viz. Psalm li., the most solemn and penitential one 
of all that he composed. 

II. After this follow the lesser Litany, the 
TheL e°rf&c Pray ' Lord's Prayer, and Suffrages, of which we have 

often spoken before. 
The first collect. III. And because the Minister may know it to 

13 See chap. IV. page 1G5. 



SECT. Til.] 



OF THE COSfMINATION. 



507 



be time to bind up the wounds of true penitents, he in the next 
place addresses himself solemnly to God for their pardon 
and forgiveness. 

IV. And knowing also that now he cannot 

well be too importunate, he subjoins a second The second Coi- 
Collect to the first; the more pathetically to 
press our most merciful Father, by phrases well suited to the 
desires of penitents, and mostly selected from holy Scripture. 

V. And the people being now prepared and 

revived by these importunate addresses, are al- ^y i ? c " e t i l n sup " 
lowed to open their lips for themselves, and to 
plead for their own pardon in so moving a form, that if it be 
presented with a suitable devotion, it cannot miss of prevail- 
ing ; but will admirably fit them for 

VI. The following blessing,-'-" which, being to 

be pronounced in the name of God, is taken e essul °' 
from a form of his own prescribing : 14 so that all who are 
prepared to receive its benefit must humbly kneel, and firmly 
believe that he who prescribed it will be sure to confirm it to 
their infinite advantage and endless comfort. 



THE PSALMS OF DAVID 

Follow in our Common Prayer Book, next after the Com- 
■mbiation : but of these I have formerly said as much as, I 
think, the nature of this work requires : 15 I have therefore no 
occasion to say any thing of them here, nor do I apprehend 
that there is any need for my enlarging upon the 

FORMS OF PRAYER TO BE USED AT SEA ; 

Which were first added at the last review, but not designed 
for a complete office, nor comprised in any particular method ; 
but are all of them (except the two first alone, which are daily 
to be used in his Majesty's navy) occasional forms, to be used 
as the circumstances of their affairs require ; and are so very 
well adapted to their several occasions, that any one that ob- 
serves them will see their suitableness without any illustration. 

* Added at the last review. 
» Numbers vi. 24. B Chap. III. sect. IX. p. 12S. &c. 



508 



OF THE FORM OF I'RAYER FOR 



[.CHAP, xv. 



CHAPTER XV. 

OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE FIFTH 
OF NOVEMBER. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

The occasions and reasons of the observation of this and the 
following days are so well known to all that have any know- 
ledge in the affairs of this nation, that it would be needless to 
repeat the several histories of them here. 

And the suitableness of the prayers appointed on these oc- 
casions is so apparent of itself, that I think nothing further 
needful, even in relation to the offices, than to give a short 
account of the Hymns, and Psalms, and Lessons, and of the 
Epistles and Gospels, by shewing in what sense they are ap- 
plicable to their days. And in treating of them I shall con- 
sider our present forms only, without noting how they differ 
or vary from the former, except where there is something re- 
markable in the alteration. For the Common Prayers that 
were printed before the Revolution (at which time the chief 
of the alterations in these were made) being as yet in many 
hands, it is easy for the readers to turn to and observe them, 
without my swelling these sheets with them here. I shall 
therefore immediately begin with the present office for the 
Fifth of November. 

Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lesso?is, Epistle, and Gospel. 

Th s ntenc s ^" ^ NSTEAD °f *- ne ordinary sentences before 
e e e e ' the exhortation, are three verses taken out of 
the hundred and third psalm, 1 declaring the long-suffering 
and goodness of God, the short continuance of his anger, and 
his mercy in not dealing with us according to our sins : all of 
them attributes we cannot help reflecting on, when we look 
back on the signal mercies of this day. 

II. And the hymn that is appointed instead of 
The hymn. ^ y en ^ e Exultemus is so methodically put to- 
gether, that it seems, as it stands in this place, to be an entire 
psalm composed on purpose for the day. It begins with an 
act of praise to God for his gracious nature and providence 
over us, 2 and then particularly commemorates our enemies' 

i Verse S, 9, 10. 2 Verse 1, 2. 



INTRODUCTION.] 



THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. 



509 



attempts, and how providentially they were entrapped in the 
works of their own hands: 3 upon this it breaks out into an 
humble acknowledgment of the power,and wisdom, and justice 
of God, 4 and at last concludes with a prayer for the Governor 
whom he hath set over us, and a promise of fidelity to God 
for the future. The whole was added in the second year of 
king William and queen Mary, when this office was very much 
altered and enlarged, upon the account of the Revolution. At 
which time also the foregoing sentences were inserted in the 
room of others that had been used till then. 5 

III. The proper psalms are Psalm lxiv. cxxiv. 

cxxv. The lxivth was a prayer which David SSShSv! 
made for deliverance from his enemies, when 
they were secretly plotting and conspiring against him ; but 
which he foretold should be signally disappointed through 
their own untoward contrivance and device. 

8. 2. The cxxivth Psalm is an acknowledgment _ . 
of God's assistance, and a thankful commemora- 
tion of the deliverance wrought by him. It was occasioned, 
as some think, by the victory in Rephaim, 6 or, as others, by 
David's deliverance from Absalom : though all agree it was 
composed on the account of some signal deliverance from some 
potent enemy. 

§. 3. The cxxvth declares the safety of those _ . 

o m j JrSciirn cxxv 

who firmly adhere to God, without seeking to any 
irregular means for attaining it. It is appointed on this day, 
to remind us of the providential care of God in frustrating the 
designs of the enemies of our Church, even before they were 
sensible of their being so much as in danger from them. Till 
the second year of king William and queen Mary, the cxxixth 
Psalm was used instead of this, and the xxxvth was used first of 
all, which is now discontinued. 

IV. The proper Lessons are 2 Samuel xxii. and 

Acts xxiii. The first is David's psalm of praise, 7 T^rst 
composed upon his deliverance from the hands e rs " 
of his enemies, especially of Saul, who sought, by murdering 
him, to cut off the succession God had entailed on his family. 
The words are so applicable to the present occasion, that they 
explain themselves to an attentive hearer. 

§. 2. The history contained in the second Les- 

i The second. 

son agrees with the treason commemorated on 

3 Verse 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 4 Verse 7, 8. 5 Viz. Psalm li. 9. Jer. x. 24. Luke xx. 18 
19. 6 2 Sam. v. 17, &c. ' p sa lm xviii. 



510 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[CHAP. XVI. 



this day in some particulars, but falls short of it in others. 
There we find a crew of desperate zealots enraged at St. Paul, 
for persuading them to reform the corrupt traditions of their 
forefathers, and binding themselves in a bloody vow to murder 
him as he went to the hall of judgment. Thus far the stories 
agree ; but in what is behind they widely differ. St. Paul was 
only a private man, and their fellow-subject, and so they aimed 
at a single sacrifice to their fury and rage ; whereas the conspi- 
rators concerned in the story of this day aimed at their own 
indulgent sovereign, and the whole nation in representative ; 
seeming to copy after Caligula's wish, viz. that all the people 
of Rome might have but one neck, that so he might cut them 
off at a stroke. As the whole Scripture therefore affords no 
parallel of such cruel and bloodthirsty men, we must be con- 
tent with an instance something like it, though in a far lower 
degree. 

V. The Epistle 8 is designed to remind the peo- 
The G?ipei! and P le of their allegiance to their sovereign: the 
Gospel, 9 which was appointed in the second year 
of king William, instead of the story of Judas betraying his 
Master, 10 which for some good reasons, I suppose, was then 
thought proper to be discontinued, is intended to correct the 
unruly effects of mistaken zeal for our religion ; shewing us 
that our faith, be it ever so true, cannot warrant us to perse- 
cute or destroy those of different persuasions. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE THIRTIETH 
OF JANUARY. 

Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics. 

The rubrics having never been the practice of the Catho- 
-1 ' lie Church, nor indeed of any part of it, except 
the Roman, and that which has too many marks of its parent, 
the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, 1 to allow of humiliation 
or fasting on Sundays, which are appointed for duties of a 
The first different nature ; it is ordered, that If this day 
shall happen to be Sunday, this form of prayer 

8 Rom. xiii. 1— S. 9 Luke ix. 51—57. 10 Matt, xxvii. 1—10.. 1 Clergyman's 
Vade Mecum, p. 1S2. 



SECT, II.] 



THE THIRTIETH OF JANUARY. 



511 



shall be used, and the fast kept the next day folloiving. And 
upon the Lord's day next before the day to be kept, (i. e. on 
whatever day of the week it shall happen,) at Morning Prayer, 
immediately after the Nicene Creed, notice shall be given for 
the due observation of the said day. 

II. As to the service of this day, (like that ap- The second- 
pointed for the fifth of November,) it is to be the 
same with the usual office for holy -days in all things, except 
where it is in this office otherwise appointed ; i. e. the ordi- 
nary Morning and Evening Service, and Office for the Commu- 
nion, are to be said as usual, except where any thing in either 
of these services is to be added to, or to be used in the room 
of, the ordinary service for the day ; as the Collects, for in- 
stance, and the several prayers appointed on these occasions, 
are to be used either instead of, or besides, the prayers daily 
in use ; and the Hymn, Psalms, and Lessons, the Epistle and 
Gospel, instead of those in ordinary course. 

Sect. II. — Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, 
and Gospel. 

I. The office is introduced with some of the 

_ r . _^ Ine sentences. 

usual sentences at Morning Prayer. 2 

II. The hymn, instead of the xcvth Psalm, was The h 
drawn up in the reign of king James II., when a 

review was taken, and several alterations made in this office. 
And whoever looks into king Charles's book, must acknow- 
ledge the old hymn not to be near so fine as the new one, 
which is as solemn a composure, and as pertinent to the oc- 
casion, as can be imagined or contrived. 

III. The proper psalms appointed for the 
morning are Psalms ix. x. xi. The viith was ori- T p s \fmi™ s * 
ginally prefixed to them all, but that was after- 
wards discontinued. The first of those that are now appoint- 
ed, was wrote upon Goliath's death, and was designed for 
David's victory over the Philistines : and though the chief 
end of this day's solemnity is to bewail our sins, which were 
the occasion of the late bloody and dismal times ; yet when 
we recollect how happily we were at last delivered from them, 

. and how remarkably God's justice was executed on the ene- 
mies of our David, we cannot forbear intermingling a thanks- 
giving to praise the divine Majesty for so wonderful a work. 

2 Dan. ix. 9, 10. Jer. x. 24. Psal. cxliii. 2. 



512 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[CHAP. XVI. 



Psalm x. §' ^' ^ ne xt ^ P saull > wanting a title, was by 

the Hebrews anciently, and by the Vulgar Latin 
is still, joined to the former : but though it be on a like sub- 
ject, yet there is a plain difference between them. The ixth 
Psalm speaks of Pagan enemies, whose cruelty was ended 
some time before, and is therefore fuller of praises ; whereas 
this psalm speaks of domestic foes, who still acted unjustly, 
and so abounds more with prayers and complaints proper to 
be used on this day. 

Psalm xi §• ^' P sa l m * s a declaration of David's 

full confidence and trust in God, in despite of all 
discouragements, and is very applicable to our royal martyr 
under his sufferings. 

_ , T IV. The first Lesson for the morninsr is 2 

I he first Lesson. -i • mi • n -i n t • • » 

bamuei 1. lnere is no parallel tor this inhuman 
and barbarous murder of a good and pious king by his own 
subjects in all the Old Testament: and therefore the Church 
is content to read the history of David's justice and vengeance 
upon the Amalekite, that accused himself of killing king Saul, 
though at his own request, to ease him of his pain ; and of 
David's own decent mourning for his sovereign, notwithstand- 
ing he had been always his mortal enemy, had apostatized 
from God, and was forsaken by Heaven. How much more 
reason then had our state to punish those impious rebels, who 
murdered the best of kings, only for adhering to the best of 
religions ; and also to set apart a day of humiliation for fast- 
ing and prayer, and to draw up a mournful office for the oc- 
casion, after the example of David in the Lesson ! 

g. 2. As for the second Lesson, it is no other 
Th Le5sm" d than that appointed by the Church in the ordi- 
nary course, to be read on the thirtieth of Janu- 
ary. 3 For by a signal providence the bloody rebels chose that 
day for murdering their king, on which the history of our 
Saviour's sufferings was appointed to be read as a Lesson for 
the day. The blessed martyr had forgot that it' came in the 
ordinary course ; and therefore when bishop Juxon (who read 
the morning office immediately before his martyrdom) named 
this chapter, the good prince asked him, if he had singled it 
out as fit for the occasion ; and when he was informed it was 
the Lesson for the day, could not without a sensible compla- 
cency and joy admire how suitably it concurred with his cir- 



SECT. II.] 



THE THIRTIETH OF JANUARY. 



513 



cumstances : betrayed by some, denied by others, and despised 
by the rest of his seeming friends, who left him to the impla- 
cable malice of his barbarous enemies ; who treated him with 
the same contempt and ingratitude, outrage and cruelty, with 
which the Jews treated their King and Saviour ; while he fol- 
lowed the steps of his great Master in meekness and patience, 
piety to God, and charity to men, and at last praying for his 
murderers. 

V. The Epistle 4 shews the duty which Chris- 
tians owe to magistrates : the Gospel 5 severely The JSpei? a " d 
and justly upbraids those unparalleled rebels, 

who were the villanous projectors of this day's tragedy. It 
calls to our mind the care and diligence of the poor good 
king, who, when he had omitted nothing for the quiet and 
safety of his kingdoms, had the misfortune to commit the ad- 
ministration of the government into such hands, as made use 
of the power he had intrusted with them, to deny him the 
rights and prerogatives of his crown ; rejecting his commis- 
sioners, slaying his servants, seizing his crown, murdering his 
person, banishing his heir, and usurping his kingdom. 

VI. The Psalms for the evening service are The Psalms for 
different now from what they were when the the evening, 
office was composed ; G at present they are the Psalm lxxix ' 
Ixxixth, xcivth, and lxxxvth. The lxxixth Psalm contains a 
lively description of the miseries of Jerusalem, upon the sack- 
ing of it by the king of Babylon ; and is very applicable to 
our sad condition during the rebellion : only the Jews suffered 
by heathens, we by men whose behaviour was worse than 
heathenish, while they called themselves Christians. 

§. 2. The xcivth Psalm is a prayer to God, Fsalm . 
and a confident assurance in him, that he will sa XC1V ' 
dissipate the attempts of wicked men, and uphold the righteous. 

§. 3. The lxxxvth Psalm is appointed with re- 
spect to that happy change at the Restoration, sam xxx "' 
and is for that reason placed out of its usual order; it contain- 
ing an acknowledgment of God's mercy in delivering the land 
from those sad calamities, and a prayer for a continuance of 
it in prosperity hereafter. 

VII. For the first Lesson is appointed a choice 

of two chapters for variety: one of which 7 is Je- e rs esson 

4 1 Peter ii. 13—23. » Matt. xxi. 33—42. s viz. Psalm xxxviii. Ixiv. and 

cxliii. 7 Jeremiah xii. 

2 I. 



514 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[chap, xvit, 



remiah's complaint to God of great mischiefs done in Church 
and State by false prophets and tyrannical rulers, with God"s 
answer, giving the reason of his permitting it, and threatening 
withal, in due time, to punish the authors of these mischiefs, 
and to deliver the righteous. 

§. 2. The other is out of Daniel, 8 being an excellent prayer, 
which that holy man used on a day that he had set apart to 
solemn humiliation, fasting, and repentance ; wherein he so 
effectually bewailed the sins and sufferings of God's people, 
that he prevailed with God to restore them to their liberty, 
and to the exercise of their religion. Which justly reminds 
us of the prayers and penitence of devout men under those 
usurpers, which at last had the same effect with us. 

§. 3. The second Lesson 9 sets before us the 
Th Lesson nd f a * tn an( ^ patience of the holy martyrs, whom St. 

Paul records, and is very proper as a commemor- 
ation of our royal martyr's sufferings and faith, and an ex- 
hortation to us to imitate them, whensoever it shall please 
God to require it of us. In the old Gallican Liturgy this was 
the proper Lesson for the festival of any martyr. 10 



CHAPTER XVII. 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE TWENTY- 
NINTH OF MAY 



Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics. 

The first rubric ^° ^ e en< ^ (saith the Act of Parliament, by 
ie u 1C - which this day is appointed) that all persons 
may be put in mind of their duty thereon, and be better pre- 
pared to discharge the same with that piety and devotion as 
The Act to be becomes them; the Act of Parliament made in 
tTbe -fveJfar 06 ^ e J?M,C ^> and confirmed in the thirteenth year 
the observation of king Charles the Second, for the observation 
oi the day. Q j> t ^ e twenty-ninth day of May yearly, as a day 
of public thanksgiving, is to be read publicly in all churches at 
Morning Prayer, immediately after the Nicene Creed, on the 
Lord's day next before every such twenty-ninth of May, and 

s Daniel ix. 1—22. " Heb. xi. 32, to chap. xii. 7. *> Vide Mabillon, Lit. 

Gallic. 1. 2, p. 160. 



SECT. I.] 



THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 



515 



notice to be given for the due observation of the said day. So 
also the Act for the observation of the Fifth of November is 
appointed to be read, by that Act itself, publicly in the church 
after Morning Prayer or preaching on the said day. 

And yet it is remarkable, that though both By what author . 
these Acts, together with the Act for the thirtieth ity these offices 
of January, appoint these several days to be so- areen J° me(L 
lemnly observed, and both suppose and enact that proper 
prayers and praises shall be used on those days ; yet not one 
of them provides for or establishes any office for the use of 
either one or other of the said days : nor have our kings, by 
whose order and directions alone these several offices are 
printed and annexed to the Book of Common Prayer, and ap- 
pointed to be used on their respective days, any power or au- 
thority invested in them by king Charles II. 's Act of Uni- 
formity, to establish or enjoin any other form than what is 
provided in the Book of Common Prayer, or to do any thing 
else in relation to that book, than to alter and change from 
time to time the names of the king, queen, and royal progeny. 
So that it might be very well questioned, whether these, or 
any other occasional offices put out by the same order, could 
safely be used, were it not for the general connivance, or 
rather concurrence of the two other parts of the legislative 
authority, the lords and commons, who, if sitting, are always 
present at the performance of such offices, and frequently ad- 
dress the king to order them. 1 

II. The second rubric has already been spoken 
to in the foregoing chapter : but because this S io r Js for Sad- 
festival falls in such a time of the year, as that ing this office 
it often happens to concur with some other great other holy " 
holy-day, which has a proper service appointed 
for itself; therefore here is a third rubric of directions in this 
case, that whenever such concurrence shall happen, the pre- 
ference shall be given to that other holy-day, and so much of 
this office as interferes with the service proper for that day 
shall be omitted. Thus, for instance, it is said in the rubric, 
If this day shall happen to be Ascension-day, or Whit-Sun- 
day, the Collects of this office (i. e. all the prayers of it, for 
all prayers are called Collects both in the rubrics of this and 
all other offices) are to be added to the office of those festivals 
m their proper places : — and the rest of this office shall be 

1 See this proved at large by Mr. Johnson in his Case of Occasional Days and Prayers. 



516 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[CHAP. XVII. 



omttted ; i. e. the Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel, because 
both those days have proper Psalms, Lessons, Epistles, and 
Gospels of their own. And that only the portions of Scripture 
appointed for this day are to be omitted upon this occasion, 
is plain, because if this day happens to be Monday or Tues- 
day in Whitsun-week, or Trinity- Sunday, (which have no 
proper Psalms,) then the proper Psalms here appointed for 
this day, instead of those of ordinary course, shall be also 
used. And because none of the days mentioned in the rubric 
have any peculiar hymn instead of the Venite Exultemus. 
therefore the rubric orders, that, what festival soever shall 
happen to fall upon this solemn day of thanksgiving, the 
following hymn, appointed instead of Venite Exultemus, 
shall be constantly used. The only question then remaining 
is, whether the Litany ought to be used if this day happens 
to be Ascension-day, or Monday or Tuesday in Whitsun- 
week, (for upon Whit-Sunday and Trinity-Sunday it is used 
of course.) And to this, I think, the answer is plain, viz. 
That the Litany does not interfere with any part of the service 
appointed for any of those days ; and therefore it should be 
read (as it is enjoined by this office) for the greater solemnity 
of this day. Besides, whatever festival happens to fall upon 
this day, the collects of this office are to be added to the office 
of such festival in their proper places : now one of the collects 
or prayers of this office is to be said in the end of the Litany, 
after the collect, We humbly beseech tliee, O Father, &cc. 
Unless therefore the Litany be read, and that collect used, 
one of the collects of this office cannot be added in its proper 
place. But one would think there should be no room for any 
doubt in this matter, when it is said so expressly in the rubric, 
that the Litany shall always this day be used ; to imply, un- 
doubtedly, that though it happen upon a day on which other- 
wise the Litany is not to be used, yet it shall be added on 
purpose on this occasion. 

Sect. II. — Of the Sentences, Hymns, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, 
and Gospel. 

I. For the sentences are appointed one of the 

The Sentences. ■■• , , • L • /i • 

ordinary sentences at morning service, (being 
Daniel's confession of his people's transgression, and of God's 
mercy notwithstanding, 2 ) and an additional one out of the 

2 Daniel ix, 9, 10. 



SECT. II.] 



THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 



517 



Book of Lamentations, 3 ascribing our preservation wholly to 
the mercy and compassion of God. 

II. The following hymn, which was new drawn ^ ^ ^ 
up in king James II. 's reign, in the room of 16 ymn ' 
another that had been used before, is sufficiently plain and 
applicable to the day, without any comment. 

III. The proper Psalms, till king James's 

reign, were the xxth, xxist, lxxxvth, and cxviiith. p S aim cSv 
But now they are the cxxivth, cxxvith, cxxixth, 
and cxviiith. The first of these hath been already spoken to 
in the office for the Fifth of j\Tove?nbe?'. It may very properly 
be repeated here ; since the papists and sectaries, like Sam- 
son's foxes, though they look contrary ways, do yet both join 
in carrying fire to destroy us : their end is the same, though 
the method be different. 

§. 2. The cxxvith Psalm celebrates the deli- 
verance of the Israelites out of their captivity, sa CXXY1 - 
which was so sudden and unexpected, that they who saw it 
thought themselves in a dream, and could scarce be per- 
suaded that the thing was real : which may exactly be applied 
to the strange and miraculous turn of affairs at the happy 
Restoration ; which was so surprising, that those who saw it 
were in such an ecstasy of joy and wonder, that they were 
almost afraid that their senses deceived them. 

§. 3. The cxxixth Psalm is a reflection upon Tsa}m . 
the endeavours of our enemies to destroy us, and s m CXX1X ' 
an acknowledgment of God's continual help in delivering us ; 
and concludes with a curse denounced upon the enemies of 
the Church. 

§. 4. The cxviiith Psalm was composed origin- Tsalm ... 
ally for David's coronation after God had brought sa m CXV1U ' 
him from his exile through many troubles, and had settled 
him safely on his throne in peace. It is set last, because it 
peculiarly relates to the last scene of the Restoration, the 
crowning of- king Charles II. 

IV. The first Lesson 4 is almost an exact paral- ThefirstLesson 
lei to our own case, describing how, after Absa- e s esson ' 
lom's death, (whereby the rebellion was happily ended,) the 
people unanimously resolved to bring back their lawful king 
David, and sent an honourable message to him in his exile, to 
invite him home ; and how also upon this he returned, not 

3 Chap. iii. 22. 4 2 Samuel xix. 9. 



518 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[chap. xvii. 



only without any opposition, but by the general consent, and 
to the great satisfaction of all his subjects ; his people con- 
tending which part of them should shew themselves most for- 
ward and joyful upon so happy an occasion. 

§. 2. But if any new practices make it necessary to reflect 
upon that faction and sedition which began the rebellion, 
Numbers xvi. was added by king James, to be used instead of 
the former, where the example of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram 
sets out the greatness of their sin, and the severity of their 
punishment, who delight in opposing their lawful governors. 

§. 3. The second Lesson, which is now the 
T Les S s e on nd Epistle of Saint Jude, (but which was Romans 
xiii. till king James's reign,) foretells the coming 
of false teachers in the last days, and describes their hypo- 
crisy in pretending to sanctity, while their lives are notoriously 
evil ; remarking particularly their railing at those in authority, 
and prophesying falsely for a reward, and containing at the 
same time a prophecy of their fall : and as the character of 
these was exactly answered by some in those sad times ; so 
also was their prophecy soon after fulfilled to their ruin and 
destruction, to warn others to beware of such pretenders. 

VI. The Epistle 5 (except the two first verses) 
The G?spei e and * s tne same w itli that for January 30, command- 
ing us to be subject to the king as supreme. 
But, lest we should doubt who our king is, the Gospel gives 
us a token to know him by, viz. he whose image and super- 
scription our tribute-money bears. For coining of money is 
as certain a mark of sovereignty, as the making of laws, or 
the power of the sword. Wherever therefore that mark is 
found, there tribute and the rights of sovereignty are due. 
For this reason our Saviour, to answer the question proposed 
to him, (viz. whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Ccesar 
or not ?) does not examine into Caesar's right, nor how he 
came by his sovereign power ; but all the foundation he thinks 
necessary to proceed upon, is this of Caesar's image and su- 
perscription, i. e. the current coin of the country. For this 
was a proof that Caesar, at that time, was actually possessed 
of the supreme power in Judea, and that even the Jews, who 
used his money, acknowledged as much* an answer so plain, 
that the Pharisees were ashamed of the question they had 
proposed, and went away without making a reply. For they 

s 1 Peter ii. 11—18. 



SECT. II.] 



THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 



519 



no more dared to deny that Caesar was king, than they thought 
that Jesus dared either to own or deny the lawfulness of pay- 
ing tribute to him. But one necessarily infers the other. For 
" since peace (saith the historian 6 ) cannot be secured without 
forces, nor forces raised without pay, nor pay had without 
taxes or tribute;" it follows that tribute must necessarily be 
paid to the person actually governing, so long as he governs, 
in consideration of the safety and protection we enjoy by him, 
whosoever he be that is possessed of the government. 

I know how injurious this doctrine hath been represented 
to rightful princes in distress from usurping powers. But I 
never yet saw it proved, that Providence is confined always 
to maintain the same family on the throne ; or that, when an- 
other is raised up in the room of it, we are not obliged to em- 
brace or submit to such a change in the government, accord- 
ing as it is ordained for a blessing or a scourge. However, 
to waive that argument at present, it is sufficient to say here, 
that, supposing subjects to act upon the principles that are 
here laid down, no rightful prince will ever be dispossessed. 
And sure it will be hard to charge those consequences upon 
the explanation of any Scripture, which can never happen till 
men have acted in direct opposition to the text so explained.. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

OF THE FORM OF PRAYER DRAWN UP FOR THE 
FIRST OF AUGUST ; AND NOW TO BE USED 
ON THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 

As the godly Christian emperors in ancient times, so it appears 
that our most religious princes since the Reformation, have 
always caused the days of their inaugurates to be publicly 
celebrated by all their subjects with prayers and thanksgivings 
to Almighty God} And to the end that this day might be 
duly celebrated, we find that particular forms of prayer have 

6 Nec quies gentium sine armis,nec anna sine stipendiis, nec stipendia sine tributis 
haberi possunt. Tacitus apud Grotium in Matt. xxii. 20. 1 See Can. 2, 1640, in 

Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 349, and king James II. 's Order for the Service on 
the sixth of February. 



520 



OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR 



[CHAP. XVIII. 



been appointed by authority, at least ever since the reign of 
king Charles I. for that day on purpose? It is true, after the 
death of that prince, this pious custom received a long and dole- 
ful interruption, upon occasion of his murder, which changed the 
day, on which king Charles the Second succeeded to the crown, 
into a. day of sorrow and fasting? And indeed a great part of 
the duty of that day, and the devotions proper to it, were per- 
formed in the service for the twenty-ninth of May. However, 
upon king James II. 's accession, the former laudable and re- 
ligious practice ivas immediately revived ; a form of prayer 
and thanksgiving having been composed by the bishops for this 
purpose, in many things agreeing with this we now use. But 
in the reign of king William, the Inauguration festival was 
again disused: and it must be owned there was so much the 
less occasion for it during his reign, as there were large ad- 
ditions made to the form of thanksgiving appointed for the 
Fifth of November, to commemorate his arrival, which hap- 
pened on that day. However, when our late glorious and 
pious queen Anne succeeded to the throne, there was fresh 
occasion to revive the festival. And therefore the day was 
again ordered to be observed, and a form of prayer with thanks- 
giving drawn up, part of it being taken from king James's 
office, and part of it being composed entirely new; and is, 
altogether, the same (except the first Lesson) with the present 
office, which comes now in order to be explained. 

Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel. 

The Sentences ^" '^ HE rU ^ r ^ CS are tne same as m tne foregoing 

offices ; and so the Sentences are the first that 
need to be considered : and of these it is sufficient to say, 
that the first is a proper introduction to the duties we are now 
going to perform, 4 and that the other is one of the ordinary 
sentences at morning service, 5 and inserted here, in order to 
prepare us for the following confession. 

TheH n ^ e -^y mn * s an abridgment °f a much 

ie ymn. i on g er one that was appointed in the office drawn 
up for king James II. However this, as it stands, is as proper 
to the occasion, containing suitable petitions and praises for 
the king. 

2 See Can. 2, 1640, in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 349, and king James II.'s 
Order for the Service on the sixth of Fehruary. 3 Ibid. * 1 Tim. ii. 1—3. 

5 1 John i. 8, 9. 



CHAP. XVIII.J 



THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE. 



521 



III. The proper Psalms are Psalm xx. xxi. ci. The Psalms 
The xxth is a Psalm of David, wherein the people p S aim xx.' 
are taught to pray for his good success. 

§. 2. The xxist was originally composed upon ¥ ^ lm xx5 
the same account for which we now make choice " a m XXI " 
of it, viz. to be a form of public prayer, to be used in the con- 
gregation for God's blessing on the prince. 

§. 3. The cist Psalm is a resolution that David „ . 

3, , , „ i . Psalm ci. 

made to be a strict observer of piety and justice 
both in his private and public conduct, and is appointed here 
to remind us, that whoever desires God's blessing upon his 
person and government, must diligently attend to discounten- 
ance impiety, and to nourish true religion and virtue. In the 
room of this Psalm, in king James's office, were appointed the 
lxxxvth and the cxviiith ; but they being both chose with an 
eye to the exile, which that prince underwent with his royal 
brother, were, in the office for queen Anne, more properly 
changed. 

IV. The first Lesson in queen Anne's time was 
Proverbs viii. 13, to the end : but now the first T T e he L fir S st ns ' 
of Joshua is again appointed, which was the Les- 
son for this office when it was put out by king James. Now 
indeed only the first ten verses are appointed, which contain 
the history of God's setting up Joshua to succeed Moses in 
the government of the Israelites, with the instructions that he 
gave him upon that occasion. Why the latter part was not 
continued as well as the former, I do not see; since certainly 
some part of it is as applicable as the former to the case of his 
present Majesty, it going on with the story of Joshua's passing 
with the Israelites over Jordan, to take possession of the land 
which God had given him. 

§. 2. The second Lesson 6 is appointed upon Thesecond 
account of that part of it which is read for the 
Epistle on November 5, of which what I have there said may 
suffice. 

V. The Epistle and Gospel are the same with 

those appointed on the twenty-ninth of May, and The |j s ^\ e and 
have already been spoken to in my discourse on 
that office. 

6 Romans xiii. 



TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED 
AND EXPLAINED. 



Page 

Genesis xliii. 27. 429 
Exodus xvii. 11, 12, 13. . 357 
Leviticus xviii. 12 — 16. . . 404 
Judges xiv. 20. . . . 401 
1 Samuel xxxi. 12. . . 466 
Ecclesiastes v. 1. . . 90 
Ezekielix. 4. . . .357 
Amos vi. 10. 466 
Zechariah iii. 8. . . .86 
Yi. 12. . . ib. 

St. Matthew iii. 11, 16. . . 377 

v. 23, 24. . 274 

■ vi. 9. * 

10. . 7 

ix. 2. . . 441 

xvi. 19. . 440 

xviii. 18. . . ib. 

xix. 9. . . 402 

— - xx vi. 26. . . 295 

29. . 278 

St, Mark x. 11. . . . 403 

■ xiv. 23. . . 297 

St. Luke i. 78. 86 

iii. 21. . . 377 

xi. 2. 7 

xvi. 18. . 403 

xxii. 19. . . 297 

•St. John iii. 3—7. . 325 





Fage 


St. John xiv. 13. 


5 


xvi 23 24 


ib. 


xx. 23. . 


440 


Acts i. 5. . . . 


378 


ii. 46. . 


82 


iv. 23, 24. . 


10 


Romans ii. 20. 


. 372 


xvi. 3, 5, 10, 11, 


14. 83 


1 Corinthians vii. 2. 


. 402 


11 


329 


xi °° 


83 


24 25 


297 


— xvi 19 


83 


2 Corinthians i. 21, 22. 


380, 391 


viii. 23. 


97 


Galatians i. 19. 


. ib. 


Ephesians i. 13. 


380 


iv. 30. . 


. ib. 


Philippians ii. 25. 


97 


Colossians iv. 15. . 


. 83 


1 Timothy iv. 14. 


96 


2 Timothy iv. 5. . 


. 95 


19. 


83 


Philemon 1, 2. 


..ib. 


Hehrews xiii. 7. 


188 


J ames v. 14, 15. 


442, 449 


16. 


451 


1 Peter iii. 7. 


. 410 


1 John ii. 20, 27. 


301 



INDEX. 



A BsoLUTioir, the power of it, in what sense 
given by our Saviour to the Church, 440. 
the internal effects of it, 442. in what 
sense exercised in the primitive Church, 
443. how far abused by the Church of 
Rome, 453. in what sense exercised by 
the Church of England, 439, 446. 

in the morning and evening service, 

how seasonably used there, 114. of what 
benefit or effect, 115. designed by the 
Church to be more than declarative, t'6. 
not to be pronounced by a deacon, 120. 

in the office for the visitation of the 

sick, seems only to respect the censures 
of the Church, 439. what intended by 
the form, 445. not to be pronounced un- 
less heartily desired, 447. See ?lso the 
preface, vi. &c. 

Abstinence, how distinguished from fast- 
ing by the Church of Rome, 19S. what 
days appointed for the one and the other, 
t'6. no distinction made in the Church 
of England, either between days of fast- 
ing and davs of abstinence, or between 
any different kinds of food, 198, 199. ab- 
stinence from flesh on fish-days enjoined 
by act of parliament, 199. entire absti- 
nence recommended by the Church of 
England on fast-days, t'6. 

Advent, why so called, 206. the antiquity 
of it, t'6. Advent sermons formerly 
preached, t'6. why the Church begins 
her year at Advent, 207. 

Affinity. See Consanguinity. 

Affusion in baptism, answers the end of it. 
34S. used sometimes by the primitive 
Christians, ib. how it first came into 
practice, 350. affusion only to be used 
when the child is sick, 368. 

Agatha, a Sicilian virgin and martyr ; 
some account of her, 56. 

Agnes, a Roman virgin and martyr ; some 
account of her, 55. why painted with a 
lamb by her side, 56. 

Alb, what, by whom, and when to be 
worn, 104. 

St. Alban, a martyr ; some account of him, 
64. 

All-Saints day, for what reason observed, 

190, 253. the service for it, ib. 
All-Souls dav, what day so called, and 

why, 74. 

Alms, how to be distinguished from the | 



other devotions of the people, in the ru- 
bric after the offertory, 275. by whom 
and in what manner to be collected, ib. 
Almsgiving at the Sacrament, a necessary 
duty, 273. 

Alphege, archbishop of Canterbury; some 

account of him, 60. 
Altar, in what part of the Church it former- 
ly stood, 86. none were allowed to ap- 
proach it but priests, t'6. a dispute about 
it at the Reformation, 263. how it ought 
to stand, both in the Communion-time, 
and out of it, 264. why the priest must 
Stand on the north side of it, 265. to be 
covered with a fair linen cloth at the 
time of Communion, t'6. 
Ambrose, bishop of Milan j some account 

of him, 60. 
Amen, what it signifies. 122. how regarded 
by the primitive Christians, t'6. why 
printed sometimes in Roman and some- 
times in Italic, 123. in what sense it is 
used at the end of the curses in the 
Commination, 505. 
St. Andrew's day, why observed first in 
the course of holy-days, and at the be- 
ginning of Advent, 247. 
Angels, thought to be present at the per- 
formance of divine mysteries, 291. 
St. Ann, mother to the blessed Virgin 

Mary ; some account of her, 67. 
Anthems, the original and antiquity of 
them, 158. why to be sung between the 
third collect and the prayer for the 
king, t'6. 

Annunciation, the feast of it, 247. 
Apocrypha, when, and upon what account 

appointed for Lessons, 137. 
Apostles, others besides the twelve so 
called, 95. their office not designed to 
be temporary, t'6. 

their days, why observed as festivals. 

189. 

Ascension-day. how early observed. 235. 

the service of that day explained, t'6. 
Ash-Wednesday, why Lent begins on that 
day. 219. why so called, t'6. the discipline 
of "the ancient Church on that dajr. ib. 
how the Church of England supplies it, 
220. the service for it, t'6. 
St. Athanasius's Creed. See Creed of 
Athanasius. 
i August 1, a form of prayer for it, 519. 



524 



INDEX. 



Augustin, first archbishop of Canterbury ; 
some account of him, 63. 

St. Augustin, bishop of Hippo ; some ac- 
count of him, 69. 

Banns, what the word signifies, 395. why, 
and how often to be published, ib. the 
poverty of the parties, or their not being 
settled in the place where they are asked, 
no reason for prohibiting the banns, 396. 
the penalty of a minister that marries 
without licence or banns, ib. 

Baptism, how it typifies a new birth, 325. 
formerly administered only at Easter and 
Whitsuntide, and why, 231, 332. to be 
administered now only on Sundays and 
holy-days, except in cases of necessity, 
333. the irregularity and scandal of ad- 
ministering public baptism at home, ib. 
why to be performed after the second 
Lesson, 337. persons dying without it not 
capable of Christian burial, 468. 

of infants, practised by the Jews, 327. 

no alteration intended by our Saviour, 
ib. express testimony for it in the New 
Testament, 329. proved from the writ- 
ings of the most ancient Fathers, 330. 

by laymen. See Lay Baptism. 

St. Barnabas, his day, why not formerly in 
the table of holy-days, 1S9. 

St. Bartholomew, a remark upon the Gos- 
pel appointed for his day, 252. 

Bede, some account of him, 63. how he got 
the name of Venerable, 64. 

Benedict, an abbot ; some account of him, 
59. 

Bidding of prayer before sermon enjoined 
by the Church ever since the Reforma- 
tion, 272. the contrary practice attended 
with fatal consequences, 273. 

Birth-days, the days of the martyrdom of 
the ancient Christians, so called, and 
why, 188. 

Bishops were called apostles in the first age 
of the Church, 97. those called bishops 
in Scripture were probably no more than 
presbyters, ib. See Ministry. 

Bissextile, leap-years, whence so called, 
248. 

Blassius, bishop and martyr; some ac- 
count of him, 56. 

Boniface, bishop of Mentz, and martyr; 
some account of him, 64. 

Bread in the Sacrament, whether it should 
be leavened or unleavened, 317. 

Bread and wine for the Communion, when 
and by whom to be placed on the table, 
276. how and by whom to be provided, 
321. the remainder after the Commu- 
nion, how to be disposed of, 320. 

Breaking the bread, a ceremony always 
used by the ancient Church in conse- 
crating the Eucharist, 297. 

Bridemen, their antiquity, 400. 

Britius, or St. Brice; some account of 
him, 74. 

Burial, Christian, the ancient form of it, 



467. to what sort of persons denied, ib. 
the time when performed, 474. the man- 
ner of procession at funerals, ib. rose- 
mary, why given at funerals, ib. the 
priest to meet the corpse in his surplice, 
475. and to go before it to the church or 
grave, ib. in what places the dead were 
buried formerly, 476. the ancient solemn- 
ity of taking leave of the dead body, 
485. the position of the corpse in the 
grave, 486. the throwing earth upon the 
body, ib. a communion at funerals for- 
merly appointed, and why, 488. 

Caecilia, virgin and martyr ; some account 
of her, 76. 

Calends, the column of them, 53. 

Candlemas-day, whence so called, 247, 248. 

Canonical hours for celebrating marriage, 
399. 

Catechising, what the word signifies, 373. 
of divine institution and universal prac- 
tice, 372. as proper after baptism as be- 
fore, 373. how often to be performed, 374. 
why after the second Lesson, 375. who to 
be catechised, 376. what care to be taken 
by parents and masters, ib. 

Catherine, virgin and martyr; some ac- 
count of her, 77. 

Cedde, or Chad, bishop of Lichfield ; some 
account of him, 58. 

Chancels, why so called, 85. always stood 
at the east end of the church, 86. how to 
remain as they have done in times past, 
109. 

Chimere, a bishop's habit, 104. 

Choir, all divine service performed there at 
first, 106. till clamoured against by Bu- 
cer, 107. and altered upon his complaint, 
ib. which caused great contentions, ib. 
till the old custom was revived by queen 
Elizabeth, ib. 

Chrisom used anciently in baptism, 353. 
why so called, ib. was formerly offered 
by the woman at her churching, 49S. 
what the word should signify in the 
weekly bills, 499. See White Garments. 

Christmas-day, how early observed in the 
Church, 208. the service for it explained, 
ib. why a prescribed time for communi- 
cating, 312. 

St. Chrysostom, his prayer, 161. when first 
added, 162. 

Chronicles, (the books of,) why not read for 
Lessons, 136. 

Churches, the necessity of having appro- 
priate places for public worship, 81. the 
universal practice of Heathens, Jews, 
Apostles, andprimitive Christians, 81, 82. 
the churches of the ancient Christians 
sumptuous and magnificent, 85. the form 
of them, ib. decency in churches requi- 
site and necessary, 88. to be consecrated 
by a solemn dedication of them to God, 
ib. called by the names of angels ami 
saints, 90. great reverence shewn in 
them by the primitive Christians, ib. 



INDEX. 



525 



Church holy-days, what days so called, and 
why, 89. 

Churching of Women. See Thanksgiving 

of Women after Childbirth. 
Circumcision, (the feast of,) the design of 

it, 212. the antiquity of it, ib. the service 

for it, 213. 

St. Clement, bishop of Rome, and martyr; 
some account of him, 76. 

Clergy and people, the prayer for them, 
when first added, 160, 161. 

Clerks, who intended by them, 154. 

Collects, why the prayers are divided into 
so many short collects, 155. why so call- 
ed, 156. whether the collect for a Monday 
festival is to be used on the Saturday or 
the Sunday evening, 194. the week-day 
collects not to be used on holy-days or 
their eves, 196. the antiquity of the col- 
lects for the Sundays and holy-days, 200, 

Comber, Dr., his character of our Liturgy, 
33. 

Commemorations, what they were, 139. 

Commination, the occasion and design of 
the office, 500. how often and upon what 
occasions to be used, 501, 502. to be said 
after the Litany ended, 503. to be said 
in the reading-pew or pulpit, ib. the 
design of the curses in this office, 504. 
Amen, what it signifies at the end of 
every curse, 505. 

Common Prayer Book, compiled in the 
reign of king Edward VI., 23. and con- 
■ firmed by act of parliament, 25 . but after- 
wards submitted to the censure of Bu- 
cer and Martyr, ib. upon whose excep- 
tions it was reviewed and altered, ib. and 
again confirmed by act of parliament, 
26. both which acts were repealed by 
queen Mary, ib. but the second book of 
king Edward, with some few alterations, 
again established in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth, ib. some other alterations 
made in it in the reign of king James I., 
28. and the whole book again reviewed 
after the Restoration, ib. the names of 
the commissioners, and the manner of 
their proceeding, 26. compiled by an ec- 
clesiastical, not a civil authority, 30. a 
character of it from Dr. Comber, 33. See 
Liturgy of the Church of England. 

Communicants, the Ministers to be judges 
of their fitness for the communion, 257. 
and have power to repel scandalous of- 
fenders, 258. when and how the commu- 
nicants are to be conveniently placed at 
the communion, 287. 

Communion, in what time of divine service 
notice of it is to be given, 270. not to be 
administered to scandalous offenders, 
258. nor to schismatics, 261. nor topersons 
not confirmed, 262. nor to strangers from 
other parishes, ib. when the Minister is 
to give notice of it, 270. the care of the 
Church about frequent communions, 
312, 316. 



Double communions on the same day, an 
ancient practice, 203, 204. 

Communion in one kind examined, 307. 

Communion service, designed to be used at 
a different time from morning prayer, 
256. the order of it in king Edward's 
first Book, and the Scotch Common 
Prayer, 297. why to be said on all Sun- 
days and holy-days, 313. to be said at 
the altar, though there be no commu- 
nion, and why, 315. 

Communion of the sick, agreeable to the 
practice of [the primitive Church, 458. 
timely notice to be given to the Curate, 
461. how many required to communicate 
with the sick, ib. where the sick is hin- 
dered from communicating, he is to sup- 
ply it by faith, 463. 

Communion table, how properly called an 
altar, 262. See Altar. 

Confession, in the morning and evening 
prayer, why placed at the beginning, 
114. an objection against it answered, 
ib. 

(private,) the state of it in the primi- 
tive Church, 436. how far enjoined by 
the Church of England, 437. the benefits 
and advantages of it, 438. 

Confirmation, a necessary qualification for 
the communion, 262. of divine institu- 
tion, 377. of apostolical practice, 378. its 
being attended at first with miraculous 
powers no argument that it was designed 
only for a temporary ordinance, 379. ad- 
ministered by the Apostles not so much 
for the sake of its extraordinary, as of 
its ordinary effects, ib. designed for a 
standing and perpetual ordinance, 380. 
practised by the Church in all ages, ib. 
of what use and benefit, 381. not render- 
ed unnecessary by the receiving the eu- 
charist, 382. necessary to confirm the 
benefits of baptism, 383. at what age 
persons are to be confirmed, 384. to be 
administered only by bishops, 385. a god- 
father or godmother necessary to be 
witness of it, 387. imposition of hands 
an essential rite in it, 389. but a blow 
on the cheek used instead of it by the 
Church of Rome, 389, 390. prayer an- 
other essential to it, 390. unction in con- 
firmation, primitive and catholic, 391. as 
also the sign of the cross, 392. 

Consanguinity, or affinity, what degrees of 
either expressly forbid to marry, 404. 
and what by parity of reason implied, ib. 
the case the same in unlawful conjunc- 
tions as in lawful marriages, 405. and 
between bastard children, as between 
those that are legitimate, ib. the reasons 
of the prohibition, ib. such marriages, 
why called incestuous, 406. 

Consecration of Churches. See Churches. 

of the elements in the Eucharist, al- 
ways attributed to the invocation of the 
Holy Ghost, 296, &c. 



526 



INDEX. 



Consecration of the water in baptism, an- 
cient and decent, 345. 

Cope, what sort of habit, 104. by whom 
and when to be worn, 105. 

Coroner's warrant, no rule for giving Chris- 
tian burial to persons who lay violent 
hands upon themselves, 472. 

Corporal, or linen cloth, thrown over the 
consecrated elements at the commu- 
nion, 308. 

Cousins, no cousins prohibited marriage, 
406. why not, 407. 

Creed, (the Apostles',) why called Creed, 
147. why called Symbolum, ib. the anti- 
quity of it, 148. when first recited pub- 
licly, ib. why placed between the Lessons 
and prayers, 148, 149. to be repeated by 
the whole congregation, why, 149. to be 
repeated standing, why, ib. why with 
their faces towards the east, ib. 

(of St. Athanasius,) the scruple which 

some make against it answered, 150. 
why used on the days mentioned in the 
rubric, 151. 

(Nicene,) why placed next after the 

Epistle and Gospel, 269. an account of 
it, ib. 

Crispin, martyr ; some account of him, 73. 

Cross, (invention of the,) what day so call- 
ed, and why, 61. 

in baptism, used twice by the primi- 
tive Christians, 338. the antiquity and 
meaning of it, 356. why made after bap- 
tism, 359. why made upon the forehead, 
360. 

in the consecration of the Eucharist, 

an ancient and general practice, 297. 

in Confirmation, ancient and catho- 
lic, 392. 

Curates, who meant by them in the prayer 
for the clergy and people, 161. 

Cycle of the moon. See Golden Num- 
ber. 

of the sun ; the Sunday letter impro- 
perly called the cycle of the sun, 47. the 
use of it, ib. why it consists of twenty- 
eight years, 49. how to find the domini- 
cal letter, ib. 

St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and mar- 
tyr, 71. the Cyprian in the Roman ca- 
lendar a different person, ib. 

David, archbishop of Menevia, afterwards 
called St. David's ; some account of him, 
57. 

Days, one in seven, why kept holy, 185. 

Deacons not to pronounce absolution, 120. 

Dead, praying for them, an ancient and 
catholic practice, 282. inconsistent with 
the doctrine of purgatory, ib. in what 
sense used in king Edward's Common 
Prayer, 481. how far implied in our pre- 
sent Liturgy, 482. 

Dead bodies, the care of them an act of 
religion, 464. the reasons of that care, 
ib. 

Deadly sin, what it signifies, 170. 



Dedication of churches, the feast of it, on 
what day to be observed in England. 
See Churches. 

Denys the Areopagite; some account of 
him, 72. 

Desks, or reading-pews, the original of 
them, 10S. 

Dipping in baptism. See Immersion. 

Doctrine and Erudition (necessary) for 
any Christian Man, a book with that ti- 
tle put out by king Henry VIII., 23. 

Dominica in Albis, what Sunday so called 
and why, 232. 

Dominical letter. See Cycle of the Sun- 
day Letter. 

Doxology, {For thine is the kingdom, &c.,) 
its being added by St. Matthew, and 
omitted by St. Luke, no objection to the 
Lord's Prayer being a form, 4. why 
sometimes added in the Liturgy, and 
sometimes omitted, 124. 

{Glory be to the Father, &c.,) cor- 
rupted by the Arians, and for that rea- 
son enlarged by the Church, 126. used 
at the end of all the psalms and hymns, 
and why, 132, 133. 

St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury; 
some account of him, 62. 

Duties, Ecclesiastical, what, and when to 
be paid, 321, 322. 

East, why the primitive Christians turned 
that way in their worship, 86. why 
chancels stand at the east end of the 
church, ib. why people turn their faces 
that way when they say the Creed, 149. 
why people are buried with their feet 
towards the east, 486. 

Easter, the rule for finding it, 35. upon 
what occasion it was framed, 36. Eas- 
ter differently observed in different 
Churches, ib. ordered to be every where 
observed on the same day by the Council 
of Nice, ib. the paschal canons passed in 
that Council, ib. the new and full moons 
ordered to be found by the golden num- 
bers, 37. Easter by that means was kept 
sometimes too soon, and sometimes too 
late, ib. the paschal limits answering the 
golden numbers, 38. cycles and tables 
invented to find Easter for ever, 39. 
found to be erroneous, 42. 

Easter-day, when first observed, and why 
so called, 228. the anthems instead of 
the Venite Exultemus, why appointed, 
ib. the rest of the service for it explain- 
ed, 229. why a prescribed time for com- 
municating, 230. the whole time be- 
tween Easter and Whitsuntide formerly 
observed, ib. the week after Easter how 
observed formerly, and why, 231. the 
Sundays after Easter, their services how 
proper, 232. 

Easter-eve, how observed in the primitive 
Church, 226. how observed by the 
Church of England, 227. the service for 
it, ib. 



IXDEX. 



527 



Edmund, king and martyr ; some account 
of him, 76. 

Edward the Confessor, his translation, 73. 

king of the West Saxons ; some ac- 
count of him, 59. his translation, another 
festival formerly observed, 65. 

Elements in the Eucharist, consecrated by 
our Saviour with a solemn blessing, 297. 
the form and manner of administering 
them to the communicants, 303. private 
consecration of them how far allowed, 
458. See Bread and Wine. 

Ember-weeks, what they were, and why so 
called, 207. at what seasons observed, 
ib. why ordinations are affixed to those 
times, 208. the prayers to be used at 
those times, when first added, 181. 

Epact, the occasion of it, 45. how it an- 
swers the golden number, ib. how to 
find it, 46. the use of it in finding the 
moon's age, ib. why it shews the moon's 
age truer than the golden number, 47. 

Epiphany, what the word signifies, 213. 
used formerly for Christmas-day, ib. the 
ancient names of it, ib. the service for it, 
214. the services for the Sundays after 
the Epiphany, ib. the feast of it, to what 
end instituted, 215. 

Epistler and gospeller, why appointed, 26S. 

Epistles for Sundays and holy-days, the 
antiquity of them, 201. in what version 
they are used, ib. their order and me- 
thod, ib. the suitableness of them to the 
several days, ib. why the Epistles are 
read before the Gospels, 268. 

Erudition for any Christian Man. See 
Doctrine. 

Espousals, what they were formerly, 411. 
how supplied now, 412. 

Etheldred, virgin ; some account of her, 73. 

Evangelist, not a distinct officer by him- 
self, 95. 

Eucharist, the virtue of it, 254. whence so 
called, 289. See Communion Service. 

Eves, why called vigils, 192. the original 
of them, ib. which festivals have eves, 
and which not, and why, 193. the eve of 
a festival that falls upon a Monday, to 
be observed on the Saturday, 194. 

Eunurchus, bishop of Orleans ; some ac- 
count of him, 70. 

Excommunication, the internal effects of 
it 442. an ipso facto excommunication, 
how it differs from an ordinary one, 470. 
persons dying excommunicate not capa- 
ble of Christian burial, 469. whether a 
person that incurs an ipso facto excom- 
munication can be refused Christian 
burial before sentence is pronounced, 
471. 

Exhortations to the Communion, why 
there were none in the primitive Litur- 
gies, 284. the usefulness of those in our 
office, 285. 

Exorcising in baptism, an ancient prac- 
tice, 339. 



Expectation week, what week so called, 

and why, 236. 
Ezekiel, why some part of it is not read 

for Lessons, 136. 
Fabian, bishop and martyr ; some account 

of him, 55. 
Faith, virgin and martyr ; some account 

of her, 72. 

Fasting, how ancient and universal a duty, 
197. how distinguished from abstinence 
in the Church of Rome, 198. what days 
appointed for one and the other, ib. 
whether distinguished in our own 
Church, 198, 199. days of fasting, how 
observed by the primitive Christians, 
198. 

Festivals, how requisite to be observed. 

187. Jewish festivals not to be observed 
by Christians, ib. Christian festivals, 
how early observed, ib. in what manner 
observed by the primitive Christians, 

188. what and how observed by the 
Church of England, 1S9. why the Curate 
is to bid them, ib. what to be done in 
the concurrence of holy-days, ib. and 
why lengthened out for several days, 
292. why fixed to eight days, ib. 

Forms of prayer, a full vindication of the 
joint use of precomposed set forms of 
prayer, 2. 

Fonts, why so called, 336. why generally 
placed at the lower end of the church. 
ib. formerly very large, ib. why made of 
stone, 337. 

Friday, why observed as a fast day, 199. 

Full moon. See Easter. See Epact. 

Funerals, variously performed, 465. some- 
times by burying, which was the most 
ancient and natural, ib. sometimes by 
burning, ib. always performed with due 
solemnity, 466. See Burial of the Dead. 
See Dead Persons. 

Genesis, why appointed to be read in 
Lent, 137. 

St. George, martyr ; some account of him, 
61. how he came to be patron of the 
English, ib. i 

Giles, abbot and confessor ; some account 
of him, 69. 

Glory be to the Father, &c. See Doxology. 

Godfathers and godmothers, the original, 
antiquity, and use of them, 335. the 
number of them, ib. whence called 
sureties and witnesses, ib. the qualifica- 
tions required in them, 336. no parents 
to be admitted, ib. nor persons that 
have not received the Communion, ib. 
the reasonableness of admitting a vica- 
rious stipulation, 341. why the god- 
fathers or godmothers are to name the 
child, 346. the ill practice of choosing 
unfit persons to this office, 361. a god" 
father or godmother required at Con 
firmation, 387. 

Golden number, by whom invented, and 
I why so called, 42. the occasion of it, and 



528 



INDEX. 



how brought into the calendar, ib. why 
now left out of the calendar, 43. how to 
find the golden number of any year, 44. 

Good-Friday, why so called, 225. why ob- 
served as a fast, ib. the Gospel for it, 
why taken out of St. John, ib. the rest 
of the service for it, ib. 

Gospels for the Sundays Tand holy-days, 
the antiquity of them, 201. in what ver- 
sion they are used, ib. their order and 
method, ib. the suitableness of them to 
the several days, 202. standing up at the 
Gospel, why enjoined, 269. 

Gospeller and epistler, why appointed, 268. 

Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, and 
confessor ; some account of him, 58. 

Habits for the Minister. See Ornaments. 

Hallelujah, how anciently and universally 
used, 127. 

Hilary, bishop and confessor ; some ac- 
count of him, 55. 

Holy-cross-day; what day so called, and 
why, 70. 

Holy-days, (popish,) why retained in our 
calendar, 53. See Festivals. 

Homilies of the Church of England, by 
whom composed, and when, 272. 

Honey, milk, and salt, why given an- 
ciently to the new baptized, 326. why 
discontinued, ib. 

Hood, by whom first used, 102. why used 
by the monks, 103. why used in cathe- 
drals and universities, ib. 

Hours, the third and ninth the times of 
the Jewish sacrifice, and why, 79. the 
same hours observed for prayer by the 
primitive Christians, 80. why not en- 
joined by the Church of England, ib. 

canonical, for celebrating marriage, 

399. 

Hugh, bishop of Lincoln; some account 

of him, 75. 
Hymns, the antiquity of them, 142. why 

used after the Lessons, ib. when first 

added, ib. 

January 30, a form of prayer for it, 510. 

St. Jerome, priest, confessor, and doctor ; 
some account of him, 72. 

Jesus, reverence to be made at the name 
of Jesus, 149. 

Images, the use of them forbid in the pri- 
mitive Church, 86. a remarkable in- 
stance of it, 87. 

Immersion, or dipping in baptism, most 
primitive and significant, 348. See Af- 
fusion. See Trine Immersion. 

Immovable feasts, why placed by them- 
selves in the Common Prayer Book, 246. 
observations on some of them, ib. 

Impediments to marriage, what, 402, &c. 

Imposition of hands essential to Confirm- 
ation, 389. a blow on the cheek used in- 
stead of it by the Church of Rome, 389. 
390. 

Incestuous marriages, what marriages so 
called, and why, 406. 



Infant baptism. See Baptism of Infants. 

Innocents'-day, why observed, 190. why 
observed presently after Christmas-day, 
210. the service for it explained, 211. 

Institutions (godly and pious) of a Chris- 
tian Man, a book with that title put out 
by king Henry VIII., 23. 

Introits, what they were, and how ancient, 
204. the introits for every Sunday and 
holy-day throughout the year, ib. 

Invention of the Cross, a day so called, 
and why, 61. 

St. John Baptist, his day why observed, 
189. why commemorated by his nativity, 
252. his beheading, what day so called, 
69. 

St. John Evangelist, why commemorated 
at Christmas, 210. the service for his 
day, how proper, 211. 

ante Port. Lat., what day so called, 

and why, 62. 

Isaiah, why reserved to be read in Ad- 
vent, 136. 

June 20, a form of prayer for it, 519. 

Kalendar, (or Calendar,) 52. 

Kneeling, the Sacrament to be received 
kneeling, 304. the Apostles probably re- 
ceived it in a posture of adoration, ib. 
though their posture does not bind us, 
305. when kneeling first began, ib. how 
universal and reasonable a practice, 306. 
the protestation concerning it, 323. the 
Minister, why sometimes to stand and 
sometimes to kneel, 155. 

Lambert, bishop and martyr; some ac- 
count of him, 71. 

Lammas-day, what day so called, and why, 
67. 

St. Laurence, archdeacon of Rome, and 
martyr ; some account of him, 68. 

Lawn sleeves, a bishop's habit, 104. 

Lay-baptism, allowed by our Church at the 
first Reformation, 363. but afterwards 
prohibited by both houses of convoca- 
tion, ib. whether valid or effectual in the 
sense of our Church, 365. 

Leap-years, whence called Bissextile, 24S. 

Legends, what they were, 139. 

Lent, the original and antiquity of it, 217. 
variously observed at first, ib. why li- 
mited to forty days, 218. why so called, 
ib. why to end at Easter, ib. how ob- 
served by the primitive Christians, ib. 
the Sundays in Lent, the services ap- 
pointed for them, 221. how they are 
named, ib. 

Leonard, confessor ; some account of him, 
74. 

Lessons, why they follow the Psalms, 135. 
the antiquity of them, t'6. the order of 
the first Lessons for ordinary days, 136. 
why some books of the Old Testament 
are not read, ib. Isaiah, why reserved 
for Advent, ib. the first Lessons for 
Sundays, 137. Genesis, why read in 
Lent, ib. first Lessons for saints' days 



INDEX. 



520 



138. for holy-days, ib. the order of the 
second Lessons, ib. the Revelation, why 
not read, ib. what posture the Minister 
and people ought to he in when the Les- 
sons are reading, 142. 

Let us pray, often used, and why, 152. 

Licence, the penalty of a Minister that 
marries without licence or banns, 396. 

Lights upon the altar enjoined by the ru- 
bric, 106. 

Litany, what the word signifies, 163. why 
sung in the middle of the choir, 164. the 
original of them in this form, ib. used 
formerly in processions, ib. on what days 
to be used, and why, 165. at what time 
of the day, ib. one out of every family 
in the parish to be present at it, 166. 
the irregularity of singing it by laymen, 
167. the method and order of it, 168, &c. 
when properly ended, 503. 

Liturgy, the lawfulness and necessity of a 
national precomposed one, 1, &c. 

Liturgy of the Church of England, how it 
stood before the Reformation, 22. what 
was done in relation to it in king Henry 
VIII.'s reign, ib. See Common Prayer 
Book. 

Lord be with you, &c, why placed between 
the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, 152. 

Lord have mercy upon us, &c, the anti- 
quity and use of this form, 152, 153. why 
placed before the Lord's Prayer, ib. the 
clerk and people not to repeat it a second 
time after the Minister, ib. 

Lord's Prayer, prescribed by our Saviour 
for the constant use of his Church, 4. 
objections against it answered, ib. &c. 
always used by the primitive Church, 7. 
why used in all offices, and generally at 
the beginning, 123. why repeated aloud 
by the whole congregation, 124. why 
repeated more than once in an office, ib. 

Lord's Supper, daily received by the pri- 
mitive Church, 312. the care of the 
Church in administering it to persons in 
danger of death, 458. See Communion 
Service. 

Low-Sunday, what day so called, and why, 

232. the service for it, 233. 
St. Lucian, confessor and martyr; some 

account of him, 55. 
Lucy, virgin and martyr ; some account of 

her, 77. 

St. Luke, his day, why observed, 190. 
Lunar year, how computed, 44. 
Machutus, bishop ; some account of him, 
75. 

Margaret, virgin and martyr at Antioch ; 

some account of her, 66. 
St. Mark, his day, why observed, 190. 

why observed as a day of abstinence by 

the Church of Rome, 198. 
Marriage, a divine institution, 394. must 

be performed by a lawful Minister, ib. 

not before banns be published on three 

Sundays, or licence obtained, 395. at no 
'2 M 



time prohibited, 397. though not decent 
at some seasons, 398. to be solemnized 
in one of the churches where banns were 
published, ib. to be performed between 
the hours of eight and twelve in the 
morning, 399. in what part of the church 
to be solemnized, 400. who to be present 
at the solemnization, ib. the man, why 
to stand at the right hand of the woman . 
401. the impediments to marriage, what 
they be, 402. no cousins prohibited mar- 
riage, 406. the mutual consent of the 
parties to be asked, 409. the husband's 
duty, ib. the wife's duty, 410. the father 
or friend why to give the woman, 412. 
and the Minister why to receive her, 413. 
their right hands why to be joined, 
ib. the mutual stipulation explained at 
large, 414. the meaning of the ring. See 
Ring. The married persons ought to 
receive the Sacrament, 425. the advan- 
tage of communicating on the day of 
marriage, ib. 

St. Marty n, bishop and confessor ; his 
translation, 65. 

Martyrs, the days of their death, why ob- 
served, and why called their birth-days, 
188. 

Mary Magdalene, why her festival is dis- 
continued, 66. 

the Virgin, her visitation, on what 

day formerly commemorated, 65. her 
nativity, on what day formerly comme- 
morated, 70. her conception, on what day 
formerly commemorated, 77. 

Matrimony. See Marriage. 

Masses, solitary, not allowed of by the 
Church of England, 317. 

St. Matthias's day, on what day to be ob- 
served in leap-years, 248. 

Maundy Thursday, why so called, 224. 
the Epistle, why concerning the insti- 
tution of the Lord's Supper, ib. the prac- 
tice of the primitive Church on this day, 
ib. the church-doors why set open on 
this day, 225. 

May 29, a form of prayer for it, 514. 

St. Michael and All Angels, why observed, 
190. St. Michael, why particularly com- 
memorated, 253. 

Middle state, the ancient notion concern- 
ing it, 282. 

Midlenting, or mothering, the rise of that 
custom, 222. 

Milk, honey, and salt, why given ancient- 
ly to the new baptized, 326. why discon- 
tinued, ib. 

Millennium, the notion of it very primi- 
tive, 282. 

Ministers, sometimes to stand, and some- 
times to kneel, why, 155. 

Ministry, the necessity of a divine commis- 
sion to qualify a person for the ministry, 
91, &c. the necessity of episcopal ordina- 
tion, 94. three distinct orders set apart 
by the Apostles to the ministry, 95. 



530 



INDEX. 



Money given at the offertory, how and 
when to be disposed of, 322. 

Moon. See Easter. See Epact. See 
Golden Aumber. 

Morning and evening prayer to be said 
daily, either openly or privately, b} 
every priest and deacon, 80. the form 
and order of it in the primitive Church, 
110. 

Mothering. See Midlenting. 

Musical instruments used in singing of 
Psalms, 131. 

Name given to children at baptism, why, 
346. heathen and wanton names pro- 
hibited, 347. to be given by the god- 
fathers or godmothers, and why, ib. 

Name of Jesus, what day so called, 68. 

New Moon, how to find it by the golden 
number in the calendar, 43. See Epact. 
See Easter. See Golden Number. 

Nicene Creed. See Creed, Nicene. 

Nicolas, bishop of Myra in Lycia; some 
account of him, 77. 

Nicomede, a Roman priest and martyr ; 
some account of him, 64. 

November 5, a form of prayer for it, 508. 

Oblation of the Eucharist after consecra- 
tion, always practised by the ancients, 
298. our present prayer of oblation man- 
gled and displaced, 299. 

Octaves, or the eight days after the prin- 
cipal feasts, how formerly observed, 212. 
for what reason, 293. 

Offertory, the sentences in the commu- 
nion office so called, and why, 275. 

Orders of the Ministers, three distinct 
ones set apart by the Apostles, 94. 

Ordination, by a bishop, the necessity of 
it, 94. presbyters never invested with it, 
96. at what seasons performed, 208. 

Organs, the antiquity of them, 132. 

Ornaments, or habits, enjoined to be worn 
by the Ministers, and in the church, 98. 
offensive to Bucer and Calvin, 105. dis- 
continued in the second book of king 
Edward, ib. but restored again by queen 
Elizabeth, 106. 

O Sapientia, what day so called, and why, 
7S. 

Pall at the communion. See Corporal. 
Falla Altaris, and Palla Corporis, what, 

and how distinguished, 265. 
Palls worn by archbishops, the original of 

them, 56. 
Palm-Sunday, why so called, 222. 
Paranymphs, or bridemen, their antiquity, 

400. 

Parents, not allowed to stand godfathers 
or godmothers for their own children, 
336. the want of their consent an im- 
pediment to their children's marriage, 
408.. 

Parliament, the prayer for it, when first 

added, 182. 
Passing-bell, why formerly ordered to be 

rung, 457. 



Passion-Sunday, what Sunday so called, 
and why, 222. 

Passion-week, why called the great iceek. 
and the holy week, 222. how formerly 
observed, ib. how observed by the 
Church of England, 223. the services 
appointed for it, ib. 

Pastoral staff, an account of it, 105. 

St. Paul, his day, why not formerly in the 
table of holy-days, 189. why commemo- 
rated by his conversion, 247. 

A Peal to be rung before and after every 
burial, 473, 490. 

Penitents, the form of driving them out 
of the church on Ash-Wednesday, 220. 
the form of reconciling them on Maun- 
dy Thursday, 224. 

Perpetua, a Mauritanian martyr ; some 
account of her, 5S. 

St. Philip, whether the Apostle or deacon, 
commemorated by our Church, 252. 

Pie, why so called, 140. 

Pica letters, why so called, ib. 

Places, the necessity of having appropri- 
ate places for the public worship of God, 
81. 

Polygamy forbid by the New Testament- 
402. 

Pope receives the Sacrament sitting, 306. 
Postils, sermons formerly so called, and 
why, 272. 

Prayers, not to be repeated by the people 
aloud, 123. why divided into short Col- 
lects, 155. essential to Confirmation, 390. 

Preceding marriage, an impediment to 
marriage, 402. 

Presbyters were never invested with the 
power of ordination, 96. the same per- 
sons called both presbyters and bishops 
in the New Testament, 97. 

Primer of king Henry VIII., some account 
of it, 23. 

Prisca, Roman virgin and martyr; some 
account of her, 55. 

Processions, what sort of them allowed in 
England, 234. 

Psalms used by the Apostles and primitive 
Christians, 9, 130. why they follow the 
Confession and Absolution, &'c, 128. 
why used oftener than any other part of 
Scripture, 129. whether all the members 
in a mixed congregation may properly 
use some expressions in the Psalms, ib. 
why sung or said by course, 130. by 
whom first set to music, 131. why to be 
repeated standing, 132. the course ob- 
served in reading them, 133. to be used 
after the translation in the Old Bible, 
134. which the proper place for singing 
psalms, 159. 

Publication of what things to be made in 
churches, and by whom, 271. 

Purgatorial fire, how far held bv some an- 
cient Fathers, 282. 

Purification, the feast of it, 247. why call- 
ed Candlemas-day, 248. 



INDEX. 



531 



Quinquagesima Sunday. See Septua- 
gesima. 

Reading pews or desks, the original of 
them, 10S. to have two desks, 141. 

Real presence in the Sacrament, the no- 
tion of it explained, 323. 

Remigius, bishop of Rhemes ; some ac- 
count of him, 72. 

Responds, what they were, 139. 

L\esponses, the design of them, 124. 

Revelation (the book of) why not read for 
Lessons, 138. 

Richard, bishop of Chichester ; seme ac- 
count of him, 59. 

Ring in marriage, the remains of the old 
coemption, 416. why made use of rather 
than any thing else, 417. why a gold 
one, ib. what intimated by its round- 
ness, ib. the use of it ancient and uni- 
A-ersal, ib. why laid upon the book, 418. 
why put upon the fourth finger of the 
woman's left hand, ib. the words at the 
delivery of it explained at large, 419, 
&c. 

Rochette, what habit so called, 103. the 
antiquity and use of it, 104. 

Rogation-days, when first observed, 233. 
why so called, 234. the design of their 
institution, ib. why continued at the 
Reformation, ib. deferred by the Spa- 
niards till after Whitsuntide", and why, 
230. 

Romish Saints. See Saints'-days. 
Rosemary, why given at funerals, 474. 
Royal family, the prayer for them, when 

first added to our Liturgy, 160. 
Rule for finding Easter. See Easier. 
Sacrament to be received kneeling. See 

Kneeling. 

Sacrifices (Jewish) why offered at the third 
and ninth hours, 79. 

Saints'-days, how observed in the primi- 
tive Church, 18S. how observed by the 
Church of England, 1S9. the days of 
saints' deaths, why called their birth- 
days, 1S8. 

Romish, 53, &c. 

Salt, milk, and honey, why given formerly 
to the new baptized, 326. why discon- 
tinued, ib. 

Saturday, why the Jewish Sabbath, 185. 
why and how observed by the Eastern 
Christians, 186. 

Schismatics, not to be admitted to the 
Communion, 261. 

Self-murderers, not capable of Christian 
burial, 472. whether those that kill 
themselves in distraction are excluded 
by the rubric, ib. 

Sermon, the antiquity and design of it, 

271. anciently performed by the bishop, 

272. why called postil, ib. 
Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinqua- 

gesima Sundays, why so called, 215. the 
design of them, and how observed for- 
merly, ib. their services, 216. 



Shrove-Tuesday, why so called, 21G. 

Sick. See Visiting of the Sick. 

Silvester, bishop of Rome; some account 
of him, 7S. 

Singing Psalms, which the proper place 
for them, 159. 

Sitting at the Sacrament practised by the 
pope and the dissenters, 306. by whom 
first introduced, ib. 

Solitary masses or communions, not allow- 
ed of by the Church of England, 317. 

Song of Solomon, why not read for Lessons. 
136. 

Spousage, what are the proper tokens of 
it, 41G. 

St. Stephen, St. John, and Innocents, 
their days, the antiquity of them, 210. 
why observed immediately after Christ- 
mas day, and in the order they are placed, 
ib. their service explained, 211. 

Strangers from other parishes not to be 
admitted to the communion, 262. 

Sudden death, whv we pray against it, 
170. 

Sunday, why observed by the Christians. 
185. 

Sunday letter, perpetual table to find it 
by, 51. See Cycle of the Sun. 

Surplice, why so called, 100. the antiquity, 
lawfulness, and decency of it, ib. why 
white, 101. why made of linen, ib. the 
shape of it, and why made loose, 101, 
102. objections against it answered, ib. 

St. Swithun, bishop of Winchester, his 
translation, 66. 

Symbolum, the Creed, why so called, 147. 

Synodals, what they Avere, 139. 

Tables, rules, and calendar, 35. tables for 
finding Easter, 38. the bishop of Alex- 
andria first appointed to give notice of 
Easter-day to other Churches, 39. cycles 
afterwards drawn up, ib. the cycle of 
eighty-four years, 40. the cycle of five 
hundred and thirty-two years, or Victo- 
rian period, ib. the last cycle established 
by the Church 41. and afterwards adapt- 
ed to the calendar, ib. which was the 
occasion of placing the golden numbers 
and dominical letters in the calendar, 
ib. See Easter. 

Thanksgiving, the great duty of it, 1S3. 
the forms when, and upon what account 
they were added, 184. 

A large Thanksgiving always used at the 
celebration of the Communion in the 
primitive Church, 289. thanksgiving of 
women after childbirth, whyplaced after 
the office for the burial of the dead, 491. 
the original and reasonableness of it, ib. 
the time when they must do it, 492. the 
place for doing it, 493. to perform this 
office in private houses very absurd, ib. 
the woman to be decently apparelled, 
494. in what part of the church she is to 
kneel, 4 95. in what part of the service 
she is to be churched, 496. the woman 



532 



INDEX. 



formerly to offer her clirisom, 498. what 
the accustomed offerings are now, 499. 
the woman to receive the Communion 
if there he one, 500. 

St. Thomas, why commemorated immedi- 
ately hefore Christmas, 247. 

Times, the necessity of setting apart set 
times for the performance of divine wor- 
ship, 79. See Hours. 

Transfiguration of our Lord, what day so 
called, GS. 

Trine immersion, formerly used in bap- 
tism, 352. why discontinued, ib. 

Trinity Sunday, why not of very early 
date, 241. why observed the Sunday 
after Whit-Sundav, ib. the service for 
it, 242. 

Trinity, Sundays after, the Collects, Epis- 
tles, and Gospels, 243. 

Tunicle, an account of it, 105. 

Valentine, bishop and martyr, some ac- 
count of him, 57. the original of choosing 
valentines, ib. 

Veils used formerly by women when they 
were churched, 494. 

Penile exultemus, why used just hefore 
the Psalms, 127. 

Verses, what they were, 139. 

Vessels used in private baptism to hold 
the water, how to be disposed of, 367. 

Vestments. See Cope. 

Victorian period, 40. 

Vincent, deacon of Spain, and martyr, 

some account of him, 56. 
Vigils, why so called, 192. See Eves. 
Violent hands. See Self-Murderers. 
Visitation of the blessed" Virgin, what day 

so called, 65. 
of the sick, why the office for it is 

placed next to that of matrimony, 427. 
Visiting of the sick, a duty incumbent 

upon all, 427. especially upon the clergy, 

ib. whom the sick are to send for, ib. 

and at the beginning of their sickness, 

428. who are to go without delay, ib. 



whether the Minister he confined to the 
order in the Common Prayer Book, ib. 

Unction in baptism prescribed by the first 
book of king Edward VI., 354. whether 
it belonged to baptism or confirmation, 
ib. how they were distinguished in the 
primitive Church, ib. 

in Confirmation, primitive and catho- 
lic, 391. 

of the sick, prescribed by the first 

book of king Edward VI., 448. used by 
the Apostles in order to healing, 449. 
why and in what sense prescribed by 
St. James, 450. how used by the primi- 
tive Church, 452. how by the ancient 
Church, 453. how abused by the Church 
of Rome, ib. how far countenanced at 
the Reformation, 454. 

Vow in baptism, very primitive, 343. 

Wafer-bread used formerly in the Eucha- 
rist, and why, 319. enjoined by queen 
Elizabeth, ib. and allowed by the Scotch 
Liturgy, 320. 

Wakes in country parishes, the original of 
them, 89. 

Washing with water, used by all nations 
as a symbol of purification, 324. how it 
typifies a new birth, 325. 

Water mixed with the eucharistical wine 
by the primitive Christians, 278. not 
essential to the Sacrament, ib. 

used in private baptisms, how to be 

disposed of, 367. 

White garments given anciently to the 
new baptized, 231. for what reason, 326. 
See Chrisom. 

Whit-Sunday, how anciently observed, 237. 
why so called, ib. the service for it, 239. 
why a prescribed time for communi- 
cating, 312. 

Whitsun-week, how observed formerly, 
239. 

Who alone workest great marvels, what 

meant by that expression, 161. 
Year, lunar, how computed, 44. 



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